Et Tous le Musique Arretee
by Gloryscream
Summary: AU. Author's Note up.
1. Crash and Burn

Et Tous le Musique Arrêtee

Chapter One: Crash and Burn

Sorry if the French is wrong. It's supposed to mean "and all the music stopped". And it is relevant to the story. I think. Anyways, I am sorry for butchering the language. Don't know anything about it.

Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men. Yet. And I don't own anything else mentioned here. Well, I own some things. But it should be really obvious what I don't own. There. You can't sue me.

~~~~

Rogue shakily reached for the bottle of Motrin. Her hand trembled as she desperately tried to unscrew the top. Hell, all of her was trembling. Her throbbing, stabbing, painful headache hadn't faded, so she'd headed to the painkillers. But she knew they wouldn't work. They never did. As she finally removed the lid, an especially violent tremor ran through her, causing most of the pills to spill out of the bottle and roll across the floor. She fell to her knees, dropping the bottle onto the floor. It fell with a sharp noise and more pills rolled out and hit the ground. She moaned and clutched her head.

The last thing she remembered was Ororo stepping into the room and whispering her name.

~~~

"Will she like, be OK?" Kitty asked Mr. McCoy worriedly. He sighed.

"Yes, I think so, but… there's something wrong here. I don't understand it. I thought that the Professor solved this whole mess after she found out who Risty was." He said, frowning and scratching his shaggy hair. Kitty shrugged.

"What makes you so sure that it's her powers?" Kitty asked. Mr. McCoy sighed again.

"Kitty… it couldn't be anything else. The only X-Man in better physical shape and health than her is Logan. What else could it be?" he asked rhetorically.

Kitty shrugged. "She's been sayin' stuff about, like, headaches, but she didn't seem to think they were like, a real concern," she remembered. Mr. McCoy nodded.

"Constant headaches aren't unusual. I knew a girl that had headaches every day and painkillers never worked. They were never this bad, however. She always just trembled a lot and couldn't think straight. But… this is the first time I've seen anything like it. Is this the first time this has happened?" he asked Kitty, who guiltily shook her head.

"Third," she said meekly. "Twice at school. She ripped up the notes and made me swear not to like, tell anyone." She continued at his puzzled and slightly frustrated look.

"I see," he said. Suddenly, there came a beeping noise. Kitty's head snapped up.

"Intruders," she hissed. Mr. McCoy nodded.

"Gather everyone and get rid of them. Try not to hurt them too badly, ok, Kitty?" he asked her desperately, but the freshman girl was already gone.

~~~~

Willow, the newest employee of the X-Men, was talking seriously to Mr. McCoy. Her skin was so pale it was almost translucent. The first time they'd seen her, they'd though she was a solidified ghost. Her black hair- down just past her shoulders- was black and curly, adding to the vampiric appearance. She also apparently had the same tastes in clothing and make-up as Rogue, and at the age of nineteen, she certainly looked the part of a rebel without a cause. However, she had been a valuable asset to the mansion. A former hacker, she had a formidable knowledge of computers and could look up almost anyone or anything. But along with the wisdom, she had a great disrespect to the human race, proclaiming that all mutant hostility was simply a defense mechanism as humans teased them and branded them as monsters. Also, she was not above tricking people and seemed to have quite a criminal record. But the thing that worried them most was her lack of loyalty. She seemed to move from group to group, making friends but never achieving any sense of loyalty. She simply seemed to favor whoever held the most power.

Her eyes glowed with unmistakable -and frightening- anger as the intruder's face appeared on the monitor. Ignoring this, Mr. McCoy pointed to him and asked,

"Can you get information on him? Real name, age, anything like that." He said. Her eyes quickly snapped back from the screen.

"Ten minutes, tops," she said, smiling cheerfully. Mr. McCoy shook his head. It seemed that the girl could sit and lie, straight-faced.

She went to her laptop and opened up a screen. After hacking into the New Orleans criminal records, she moved to Magneto's personal files.

"It's on a computer," she explained at his puzzled look. "And if it's on a computer, I can find it." She added confidently. She frowned minutes later and began typing furiously again.

He shrugged. Willow's odd personality hadn't made her particularly likeable to most, but she and Rogue seemed to have become friends. He supposed it was healthy for her to make another friend after that whole Risty fiasco. But he wasn't sure if Willow was the first person he would have picked. True, she was outgoing- which might help Rogue want to control her powers more- but she also wasn't exactly the nicest person. He didn't want the already-lonely girl to be badly influenced by Willow. He abandoned his musings, simply deciding to deal with things as they happened.

"_Bastard_," he heard her mutter as she typed in Remy's name, having hacked into Magneto's computer. Mr. McCoy decided not to ask her what the cause of all this hatred was.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Gambit," Jean hissed through her teeth as they saw him slip through the gates. He was wearing his uniform for Magneto, but he appeared to be alone. He approached the group, holding up his hands for the universal sign of 'I'm not holding a frickin' huge gun, ok?' and was smiling somewhat. His eyes roved over the group one by one, then frowned slightly.

"Where de femme with de white bangs?" he asked curiously. Kitty and Kurt threw him a murderous glare each before Kurt snapped,

"Vhat's it to you?" angrily. Gambit laughed slightly.

"Just curious, mon ami," he replied.

"Why are you here?" Jean asked him angrily. He smiled cheekily.

"I've come to join de X-Men, chere," he replied plainly. Jean closed her eyes and sighed.

"Can't read his mind, but it seems he was telling the truth," she said with a shrug. Gambit replied with another smile.

"I t'ought dat be against yo' rules," he said coolly. Scott glared at him.

"Rules don't apply to thieves," he responded sharply. Gambit shrugged.

"You goin' t' answer m' first question?" he asked them. Kitty shook her head and glared homicidally at him.

"Why do you, like, care? She's not dead and she's, like, still an X-Men, so it doesn't matter where she is." She responded coldly. Gambit shrugged.

"If she still be wit' you, why ain't de femme here?" he asked. Kitty looked uncertainly at Kurt who opened his mouth with little hesitation,

"Sleeping. She didn't sleep well last night, so the Professor let her rest." Scott responded for them. The concerned look Kitty and Kurt had shared pinned this as an improvised lie- they obviously hadn't expected him to ask about her- but he didn't push it. Instead, he let himself be led in.

~~~~~~~~~

"Any information on Magneto's allegedly-ex-lackey?" Jean asked sarcastically as she entered Mr. McCoy's experiment and research room. Willow had taken up a small part of the room- a laptop, regular computer, printer, and scanner. She had a folder that she was inserting carefully marked pages into. She nodded and shoved the last piece in.

"There you have it," she responded. Jean read aloud.

"Real name Remy LeBeau, Occupation- thief, age unknown, we know your powers, wait…" she said, trailing off. "Biological family unknown, adopted by Jean-Luc LeBeau…" she trailed off as Mr. McCoy entered the room, carrying a tray of food that was barely touched.

"She's awake, but doesn't want to eat. She said she just wanted…." He trailed off as he saw Remy, who leapt up and ran to the glass window that showed the infirmary. Rogue was there, idly flipping through a book called Blood and Chocolate. She looked up and looked startled, and then the book slipped from her grasp as her hands flew up to grip her head.

Within a minute, she had fainted again.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"_L'on e^tes gardant secret!"_ Willow exclaimed as Remy questioned her. "_Depuis tu veulent pour joignez eux, croient eux!"_ she continued, almost angry. Kitty hesitantly raised a hand.

"Um, translation please?" she said. Remy threw her a look but Willow simply said,

"I said 'We are keeping no secrets!' and 'Since you want to join them, trust them!' That's a rough translation, anyways," she answered, and Kitty nodded.

"From now on, try to speak in English, please," the Professor told Willow, who sneered but nodded slightly.

"Then why did de femme just faint?" Remy demanded. "I just looked at her!" he pointed out. Mr. McCoy sighed.

"We don't know," he said simply. Kitty nodded.

"It's like, the fourth time it's happened. Like twice at school and about two times here. It's totally freaky," she added. Remy struggled to not show his annoyance at her valley-girl accent.

Xavier wheeled himself closer.

"At first, the only theory we had was her powers. But now… we're not sure if it has anything to do with her powers." He explained. Willow spun around again.

"So, basically, they know nothing," she supplied. "Ah, the undefeatable X-Men, in the dark about a series of headaches." She snickered. "Ironic, especially when you throw in Remy's interest in her. Maybe he did something," she accused, and then smiled cruelly. "After all, he did get very near the door without your security systems noticing, and that was when he wanted to be noticed…" she said, trailing off. Remy glared at her. 

"You're one to talk," he said. "Don't think I don't know about-" she cut him off.

"Ok, training tomorrow with me and… oh crap…" she said trailing off and flinching.

"Who?" he asked her. She shivered, and he decided it was good to see her afraid.

"Logan," she whispered, and shuddered again. He laughed at her. She glared.

"I know _le loup-garou_. This is not going to be pleasant." She said quietly. She then turned and left the room without a word. Remy shrugged and let himself be led to his room, but not before he cast another doubtful look back at Rogue's room.

~~~~~~

Wolverine was waiting for them. But when they came in, uncomfortable in their plain black bodysuits, he glared at both of them, and shook his head.

"Welcoming thieves to join the X-Men. I don't understand it." He said. Willow was slouched against the wall, trying to turn invisible. Her head was bent over, her mid-length black hair secured into a braid. He pointed at her.

"You," he said. "Look up." She did, and her eyes looked at him- green with black swirls, no pupils. "Hmm." He said gruffly. "I'd know those eyes anywhere."

"From where, mon ami?" Remy said. Wolverine growled.

"She's the one that stole my bike and my wallet," he snapped at him. Willow flinched.

"I was desperate, _loup-garou!_" she exclaimed. "I needed a way to escape! _Desole!_" she snapped as a continuation.

"Escape from what?" Remy asked her sarcastically. Later she would swear she heard Logan snort.

"Like you need to ask, _ge/nie,_" Willow muttered sarcastically. "The cops," she added grudgingly. Then, she mocked Rogue's accent, "Ah stole some rich boy's wallet. Ah was poor and alone. Why isn' that raht, sugah?" she asked, pouting. Logan pointed a menacing finger at her.

"Don't make fun of Stripes," he said angrily. She batted green-mascara caked eyelashes at him.

"Ah ain't makin' fun o' no one," she said sulkily. "So, why do Ah hav' ta train anyways? Ah'm jus' research," she inquired. Logan all but snarled at her exaggerated Mississippi accent. Instead, however, he answered your question.

"Because you will be going on missions with us. And we can't let an untrained girl who likes messing with her powers into the battlefield," he responded.

"Ah dunno, you let Jean in," she said easily. At their inquisitive stares she sighed. "Look, she uses her telekinesis to play with her hair. There's no breeze, so how else would it happen? She could probably be a much bigger asset to our team if she would stop worrying about looking pretty." Remy snickered slightly, but Logan simply motioned for them to enter the Danger Room. Behind his back, Willow waggled her hands with long fingernails and stuck her tongue out, wiggling it like a serpent. 

"Level one," he told the computer, and then retreated to watch the madness that ensued.

Instead of simply breaking out weapons, the Danger Room shifted to look like an island. White sand, blues-than-blue water and sky, the whole deal. They heard, however, the cocking of guns. Gambit whipped out some cards and prepared his bo staff, and Willow reached over and snapped off the branch of a simulated tree. It turned out to be part of a gun. She sighed and snatched his staff. He glared indignantly at her, but soon they were being fired upon by guns that seemed to have materialized out of nowhere.

She flipped and dodged the shots, much as he did. Leaping up on top of one of the simulator trees, she bashed the top of a gun with Remy's staff. He threw charged cards at the rest. Within the hour, they had beaten the Level Two simulator as well. Logan stopped Willow as she attempted to exit.

"What's your power?" he asked her. With surprising strength for one so small, she moved his hand and left. Logan growled and didn't follow her. Remy didn't know it, but he didn't need to.

~~~~

"Hey, Rogue," Willow said as she slipped into Rogue's room. Rogue looked up from her book and smiled somewhat. Then she saw that Remy had followed Willow, and threw him a glare that would have made Logan shiver. Willow elbowed him lightly in the stomach and motioned for him to leave. He went to leave, but before he did, he turned around and grinned cheekily at Rogue.

"Kitty threw out all of your make-up," he told her and waited for a response. She threw her book at his head with amazing accuracy, considering her current physical weakness. He walked off, rubbing his head and muttering about girls and tempers.

"Don't worry, Rogue," Willow assured her. "I'll make sure he doesn't bug you. Since Scott isn't here, tell him Jean doesn't have a boyfriends or somethin'. That'd keep him busy," she continued, misunderstanding her angry look.

"Kitty took all my make-up?" she asked Willow. Willow smiled- it reminded Rogue more of a vampire baring her fangs, though- and pulled out a tube of lipstick, one mascara, two eyeliner pencils- black and purple- and her purple eye shadow.

"I managed to sneak this away, along with your brushes and eye make-up remover as well. Until then, you can just borrow my stuff. So, do you want me to keep the Cajunaway from your room? He's a perv, ignoring him works best. He seems to have a special interest in you though," she added with a wink. Rogue all but snarled at her. She settled back against her pillows, crossing her arms over her chest and looking for all the world like she was attempting to bore a hole in the wall.

"Send him in so I can rip his head off," she replied. Willow shrugged.

"Oh, forgot to tell you. Everyone's gone, some sort of mission. They even took the new recruits except for me and Gumbo- that's Logan's nickname for him- and obviously you. Beastie said that you should rest and then you might be better by tomorrow." Rogue nodded, and Willow got up.

"Yo, Gumbo! Never got to officially introduce you to Rogue!" she called up the stairs. Remy appeared fairly quickly, and Rogue glared at him.

"Don't look so down, sugah," Willow said, putting on a somewhat understated Southern accent. "Yoah admirer brought ya a present," she explained. Remy glared at her.

"No, I didn'!" he practically yelled at her. She shrugged. 

"Fine Ah'll give it to her," she said, and then threw a box at Rogue. Rogue cocked her head to the side, then swept one half of her white streak out of her face. She opened the box tentatively, and she smiled at what she saw.

"A jacket like yours!" she said to Willow. It was black denim, with various patches and buttons. The most prominent one- one that Rogue had admired several times- was a fabric duplicate of the headline "Sid Vicious Accused of Murder". "Thank you," she said quietly to Willow, who threw a very obvious smirk to Remy.

"Ah told ya, sugah," she mimicked Rogue's Southern accent as she had quickly become famous at. "She loves Sid almost as much as me." She added, dropping the accent. She stretched then, arching her back and resting her hands on her lower back.

"Gad, my ass is sore," she muttered. Rogue rolled her eyes.

"Ah'm sure we all needed to know that," she drawled. Willow crinkled her nose and glared at her.

"Y'know, you've got an awfully smart mouth for someone who's stuck in bed." She mock-threatened.

"'M hopin' de fille's mouth can do more'n dat…" Remy said dreamily. Willow shrieked and smacked him as Rogue glared.

"I did not need that mental image!" she screamed at him. Returning to her seat, she shuddered. "Now whenever someone says the word 'mouth' I will have a mental image of Rogue servicing Remy," she muttered, shuddering again. Rogue glared at her. Remy was still quiet for once.

"Anyways," Willow said, "I gotta go. There's somethin' I gotta do. I'll leave you two lovebirds alone. Oh, and Rogue," she added. "If you need it, I think Logan left a gun under your mattress." She finished with a wink, and then swept out of the room. Rogue looked as if she wanted to kill her, but didn't say anything. As a matter of fact, she completely and totally ignored Gambit. Then he looked at her. Her head started to throb. 

Flashes of memories passed through her head before she passed out, but she would forget them when she awoke.

~~~~~~

This chapter is all boring and such, but it gets better. And those headaches? Minus the passing-out part, that is my life. So I guess my life inspired this in more ways than one… Anyways, before you read on, let me tell you: This is not a story where there's something that negates Rogue's powers. I am continuing this because I heard somewhere that Rogue can be touched, it's just a psychological issue- she doesn't want to be touched. And I came up with a storyline based on that. This takes place after "Self-Possessed".

If you have not seen "Self-Possessed" or at least read a summary on it, then this will not make much sense.

Just thought I'd warn you.

Anyways, review please! Tell me if I should make the next chapter more exciting or hold out and not tell you the big secret until later.

-The Tourniquet.


	2. Too Far Gone

Et Tour le Mustique Arretee

Chapter Two: Too Far Gone

Oooh, once again I got ahead of myself. I like that idea, because then I have a back-up chapter in case I need to pump one out immediately. And, though I seriously doubt anyone who's reading this reads Deus Ex Machina- can you tell I've got a thing for titles in other languages?- it is back in the works. Slowly but surely, I will finish that story if it kills me. If you know the slightest thing about KKJ- all you really need to know is the characters- then READ IT!! I need reviews! Oh, and also look out for "Die Young" if you read "Live Fast". All reviews thus far have been favorable, though they were a bit slow on the uptake. ^-~

Please review! I do accept constructive criticism, and flames will be ignored. Or I will use my spiffy pyrokinetic abilities to throw them at you.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. So there. Though I really doubt that anyone who's reading this is a) a lawyer or b)has the money/time to sue me.

And kudos to you if you noticed, all chapters are named after songs.

~~~~~~~~

"Will!" Remy yelled down the hallway. The pale girl appeared almost immediately. "She jus' pass'd out, I did'n' do anyt'ing…" he babbled. Willow rolled her eyes and held up a slender, gloved hand to silence him.

"It's the fifth time it's happened, genius," she muttered. "Too late to blame you, though I'd love to." She rushed into Rogue's room at this point, and checked her vitals. She swore under her breath.

"What?" he asked her, though he doubted she'd tell him.

"She has increased cranial activity." At his puzzled look, she rolled her eyes. "She's passed out, but… it looks as if she's either trying to remember something, or trying to forget it. Difficult to tell. Anyways, other than that, she's fine. She won't wake up for a while, so just let her rest." Remy nodded and left the room reluctantly. As he left, Willow called to his back,

"She's too far gone to even know that you're here, so don't think I'm trying to get rid of you,"

Just out of curiosity and lack of something more interesting to do, he turned and asked Willow,

"What is your power, anyways?" She smiled thinly, and her white teeth against black lipstick disturbed him almost as much as the smile itself.

"That's for me to know and you to never find out," she replied evenly, before slipping back to her and Mr. McCoy's lab. He shrugged and slipped out, contemplating the secrecy of her powers. It didn't make sense- Rogue didn't like talking about her powers because it was awkward for her to admit she could never touch anyone. But he'd seen Willow touch Rogue, so that couldn't the reason.

He made a mental note to ask Professor Xavier about Willow's powers. That was assuming that the Professor even knew.

~~~~~~~

Rogue opened her eyes warily hours later. It was dark, and someone had thoughtfully turned off the lights. She reached up to touch her head, amazed at the lack of pain She then frowned at her lack of gloves. How could she have forgotten? Anything and everything could have gone wrong. Her hand slid over to her bedside table, fingers scrabbling madly, searching for the silky material that was too familiar.

"Covering such beautiful hands mus' be a crime, chere," that god-damned Cajun said, leaning on the doorway. She groaned.

"Great. Now you're admiring my _hands_." She muttered. Her grinned wider.

"I would like t' admire other parts o' your body, chere, but I don' t'ink you'd like me sayin' dat." She growled deep in her throat and looked like she was about to lunge at Remy.

"Stupid Cajun," she muttered as she decided it wasn't worth the effort. "Hey, what day is it?" she asked him He frowned slightly at the odd question, but answered,

"Monday." She sat up straight.

"What time is it?" she asked frantically. He checked the clock.

"About eight, chere," he told her. She smacked her forehead and started to get up.

"Shit!" she yelled. "Shit, shit, shit," she muttered as she searched for the clothes she'd been wearing before. He looked at her oddly.

"Where you goin', chere?" he asked her.

"None of your business, swamp rat," she told him, and headed for the doorway. He blocked her way, and looked down, amused at her frustrated and pretty angry face.

"What's de matter, chere? You goin' t' be lat f'r a date?" he inquired mockingly.

"No!" she all but screamed. His eyes widened.

"Mon Dieu, she does have a date." He said, shocked.

"Ah do not!" she replied indignantly. "Ah have ta meet someone, and Ah'll be late if you don't move!" she yelled at him. Shrugging, he moved aside, deciding to question her further when she got back.

~~~~~~

"Professor, I'm not too sure about this Willow character," Jean told the Professor on the way back to the mansion. "I mean, she seems nice enough, but she never talks about her past, and never says what her powers are. Isn't that just a little bit strange?" she inquired, continuing at his silence. He sighed slightly.

"Jean, she has her reasons for keeping secrets. Rogue doesn't talk about her past that much, now does she? As a matter of fact, she never talks about anything that happened before she touched Cody…" he trailed off. "Anyways, my point is, she might not be hiding something. Maybe she just isn't proud of her past and would rather focus on becoming an X-Men." He answered.

"But, Professor, what about her powers? I mean, Rogue doesn't talk about hers because it's just not a topic you ask her about. She hates her powers and hates how the mess up her life. But, Willow, as far as I can tell, can touch." She pushed. Xavier sighed.

"Willow can touch, Jean, those aren't her powers. But… her powers are almost uncontrollable. She barely keeps them in check," he told her.

"Professor, will you tell what her powers are?" she asked him, thinking he'd say yes. Surprisingly, he shook his head.

"She didn't even tell me; she accidentally broadcasted certain thoughts and memories. I'll tell you one thing- Willow isn't her real name." He added at her puzzled look.

"Does anyone except for you know?" she asked quietly. He sighed.

"Jean, I don't know. If she wants to tell people, she will. It wouldn't be right for me to tell you, especially because she didn't want me to know either," he sid, and she could tell that was the end of the conversation. But, her curiosity was piqued. If she had to read 'Willow's' mind to find out, she was going to find out what her powers were.

~~~~~~

"Where's Rogue?" Remy asked Willow as he wandered into the TV room and found her watching a movie. She shrugged.

"Out," she replied evasively. He sighed exasperatedly. 

"She still in Bayville?" he asked her, annoyed with her answer.

"According to the city limits? Yeah. But you won't find her, Gumbo." She answered. Bored, he looked at her oddly.

"What d'you mean?" he asked her. She laughed and shook her head.

"Figure it out for yourself. I'm outta here. Catch ya later!" she grabbed her black duster as she jogged out the door.

~~~~~~~~~

Rogue slipped back into the mansion silent as a shadow. That jerk of a new recruit would be proud. Almost as quietly, she slid toward the stairs. Suddenly she bumped into someone. She jumped back slipped behind a statue, biting her lip before she could scream. Hearing and seeing nothing, she inched out from behind her hiding place and breaking into a run towards her run. Suddenly, a strong hand clamped down on her uncovered wrist and pulled her to a sharp stop. She twisted around, despite the painful grip on her arm, and found herself staring into red and black eyes. She snarled at him.

"What d'you want, Gumbo?" she snapped at him, attempting to twist her arm free. He groaned.

"_Le loup-garou_ gives me that nickname and it sticks, non, chere?" he asked her. She glared at him while doing some inventive twisting of her entire body as she attempted to break out of his grasp again. "Mon Dieu, chere, didn' know y' could move like dat." He told her, smirking. Her thin wrist had slipped from his grasp, and as he said those words, she clutched her head.

Didn'tknowyoucoulddothat…movelikethat…didn'tknwyoucoulddothat…movelikethat…didn'tknowyoucoulddothat…movelikethat…

She let out a strangled cry as she hit the ground again.

~~~~~~~

Shout-Outs:

Barbar Ruiz: I like getting people's attention^^. My first reviewer for the story, I didn't catch it immediately because I was watching Field of Dreams. Thank you!

ishandahalf: Was this update fast enough for you? I have up to chapter four written, so I'll try to keep going ahead and make an weekly update schedule. I'm glad you like it- I tried really hard to make this central around Rogue and have Willow as more of a side character. I'm also glad that I'm not the only person that says cool beans! Thanks for your review!

Passionate Crow Rat: I wrote more! Thank you! I can't tell you how much people liking this means to me!

~~~~~~~

Ooooohhh, shortness! For those that haven't figured it out, the italics are thoughts. Or something. Technically, not thoughts, but you don't know what they are.

For those that are wondering, yes, I hate writing accents. And I know I'm not being original by not writing accents, but I have a question for all those Evolution viewers out there: When was the last time Rogue said sugah? Granted, she **does** speak with a Southern accent. And Remy's has been toned down, which makes sense because I **believe** he hasn't been to the Big Easy in years. So if you get pissy with me, I'll just point out the obvious.

For those of you who are thinking that this is going to be a rip-off of 'Giddy'- one of the **best** X-Men: Evolution fanfictions out there, you're wrong. I get inspired by the weirdest things and then the result turns out to be different from the inspiration. 

Sorry for taking so long- and for those of you who don't know, there will be serious angst. And a sequel, probably. I like sequels. And I like angst. SO there's the reason.

Questions? Comments? Flames? Review! Constructive criticism is welcome! Review for me and I'll try to review for you!

Oh, and please try not to e-mail me- hotmail won't let me get into my inbox, and if I get too many e-mails, then it'll overload and I may miss some important ones. So try to review instead of e-mailing.

-The Tourniquet


	3. All You Wanted

Et Tous le Musique Arretee

Chapter 3: All You Wanted

A/N: Name that song! I'm tossing around the idea of having a contest later in the story. I already know what it would be, but the problem is, you could cheat on it, which would suck. So maybe I'll change it. Anyways, please review!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the plot and Willow. 

~~~~~~~

"What did you do to her, Gumbo?" Logan growled at Remy who looked frantic.

"Not'in'!" he said. "She jus'…passed out," he muttered. Logan growled at him, but Willow intervened.

"Listen, I like the Cajun here about as much as you, Logan," she told him soothingly, then frowned oddly. "And…you hate me, so I'm probably the last person you want calming you down." She started to move away, but Logan also started to lunge forward. Despite the obvious difference in size, she managed to stop him. "Screw it," she muttered.

"Listen, I know you don't do the chores, but think of how hard it is to get blood out of the carpet. Besides, Rogue has just 'passed out' before." She pointed out. Logan growled again and sheathed his claws, which had been unleashed the second he'd seen Rogue unconscious.

Snarling again, he pointed at Remy. "This ain't over bub," he growled, then left to check on Rogue again.

~~~~~~~

When Logan reached her room, he was surprised at the lack of people crowded outside. When Red had been sick, everyone except Rogue had turned out and waited nervously, and she'd only had the flu. Now Rogue was unconscious and possibly very ill, and nobody cared? Not even the half-pint was there. As a matter of fact, the only person there was Kurt.

As that wacko new girl walked by, he heard her speaking to herself very, very quietly- it was hard for even him to hear. 

"And all you wanted was somebody who cared," she said softly as she walked by. Obviously she didn't know Logan had heard her, but he frowned. Was this just a plea for attention? He doubted it- Rogue stayed in the shadows, and many times she had pointed out that Red took up the spotlight. As far as he could tell, she liked being in the shadows. She hadn't really tried to make any friends; both Mystique as Risty and Kitty had come to her.

As far as Logan could tell, she liked being ignored.

~~~~~~

Rogue's eyes fluttered and opened finally. She heard a sigh of relief and turned slightly, seeing Kurt standing there. She smiled.

"Hey, little brother," she whispered. He moved his chair closer. "How long was I out?" she asked. He looked at the clock.

"Exactly twelve hours." He replied cheerfully. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She stretched her arms, arching her back and wincing.

"My back's sore," she muttered. Kurt chuckled.

"Well you did fall when you passed out." He pointed out. She grimaced and absently rubbed her wrist. He looked at her thin arm.

"Something wrong?" he asked her, staring pointedly and her wrist. She shrugged evasively.

"Ah guess I banged it on the wall or somethin' when Ah fell," she muttered at his suspicious gaze.

He decided not to pursue the topic, convincing himself that her excuse was true.

"The Cajun's worried about you," he muttered, his German accent becoming more pronounced in his anger. She sneered suddenly, a look of anger and indescribable sorrow in her eyes. "Vhat?" eh asked her frantically, hic accent still emphasized. She shook her head.

"Nothin, sugah. He just annoys me, Ah guess," she told him.

"I'll leave you to your rest now," Kurt told her, and teleported out of her room. Her lack of honesty with him upset him. Just what had Mr. LeBeau done to his sister?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Willow was typing furiously on her computer again, bottles of water, cappuccinos, and soda cans in a scattered mess on her table. Papers were crumpled and covered with estimations. She robbed her eyes again, yawning and reaching blindly for her sixth cappuccino. Finally, the computer file had fully downloaded. She printed it up, rifling through it.

She then re-printed it, though it was about half as long this time. She grabbed a big, black marker and crossed out a few names. She consulted yet another list, and scratched out several names. There were about twenty left. After several hours, she had narrowed it down to three:

Marie Darkholme*

Emily Griffith

And Dawn Peterson

She sighed in relief and leaned back in her chair. Kitty came in suddenly, still dressed in her regular clothes even though it was past midnight.

"Did you like, get it?" she asked. Willow nodded.

"Down to three, but it shouldn't be too hard to look the other two up." She said, but frowned. "The last names are all common except one." She shrugged. "Does 'Darkholme' sound familiar to you?" she asked Kitty. Kitty's eyes brightened.

"Yeah! She was like, our principal before, like, Principal Kelly like, came!" she exclaimed, then frowned. "But, like, what would her relative, like, be doing in a like, small town in Mississippi?" she asked. Willow nodded.

"That's what I want to know. We can't cross her off yet, but we'll check her out last." She said. "Kitty, I want you to check out Dawn Peterson. School records, college letters, medical records, anything! I just want to know if she's still in Caldecott." She told her. Kitty nodded seriously. "I'm going to check out Emily Griffith the some way. Then, if it's a no-go, we still have to check out Marie, alright?" she continued.

"I'll go, like, start that?" Kitty said, and Willow nodded.

~~~~~~~~

Kurt flinched as he walked into Rogue's room. She'd insisted on playing her music, so when Marilyn Manson's voice hit his ears, he felt like committing suicide. He would have willingly suffered through the screaming of Finch or the unintelligible wailing of A.F.I., but Marilyn Manson was too much for him. He knew that Rogue adored his music, though, and trying to get her to change would be impossible. He could only hope that it would be enough to drive away the Cajun.

Rogue was absently flipping through a book she'd probably read a thousand times. She looked up as he entered, smiling as much as she usually did. Which wasn't much, but Kurt knew that's just how she was.

She leaned back against the pillows and closed her eyes.

"Rogue?" he said. "Rogue?!" he repeated frantically.

She had fainted again.

~~~~~~~~~

"Why is this happening?" Logan yelled as he slammed his fist into a wall. The Professor winched as he saw the hole Logan had formed.

"I cannot tell at this point." He said reluctantly. Logan growled, and Professor X continued. "It seems that certain words are triggering something in her mind- memories or thoughts –but she doesn't know what or why." He explained. Logan growled slightly again, but calmed down.

"So are you sayin' that if she figures out what's being triggered than she'll stop collapsing?" Logan asked skeptically. Professor X inhaled deeply and leaned back in his wheelchair.

"This last collapse was actually caused by malnutrition," he confessed. "She hadn't eaten in a while." He added.

"You saying that nobody cared enough to bring her some food?" he snarled. Professor X sighed again.

"I am simply saying that she should eat as soon as possible." He responded, and Logan knew it was the end of the conversation.

"I'll have the elf bring her something to eat," he muttered.

"Logan, Kurt is out," Professor Xavier called after him. Logan snorted then said,

"Then I'll make Gumbo do it." The Professor smiled as he exited the room.

~~~~~~~

"Lunchtime, chere!" Remy said to her cheerfully as he opened the door. At Kurt's request, she had put on headphones. She glared at him.

"Fuck you." She stated coldly. He winked at her.

"Later, chere," he replied. She took in a deep breath and turned off her music.

"You do know that Ah could kill you if Ah touched you, right?" she asked. He shrugged.

"I t'ink dere be a way t' control yo' powers. Y' jus' haven't found it yet," he responded. She glared at him.

"Even if I could touch, I wouldn't want to touch you," she responded icily. He chuckled.

"Ten more minutes wit' me and I t'ink y' change yo' mind," he answered evenly. "What y' listenin' to, chere?" he asked her.

"OK Go," she snapped. He looked offended.

"All I asked y' was what y' were listenin' to," he muttered. She rolled her eyes.

"The name of the band is OK Go," she all but snarled. He shoved a plate with pizza on it towards her. She promptly gave it back.

"Not hungry," she said quietly. He looked more than mildly surprised.

"Chere, I know you have hardly eaten in three days. Eat." He told her. She shook her head again.

"Ah ate enough," she responded, still refusing the food. "Ah'm not hungry." She stated firmly. He shrugged and shoved the food away.

"Can ya leave now?" Rogue asked him. He shrugged.

"If y' really wan' me to," he told her. She sneered.

"Ah do." She snapped. He winked again, and she wanted to slap him. She stared defiantly into his brown eyes as he replied:

"If I leave now, will y' give me a kiss later, chere?" he asked. She rolled her eyes, then imitated Willow by batting her long eyelashes and letting her words drip sweetly from her mouth.

"Ah don't think so, sugah," she finally said. "Much as Ah'd like t' see ya in a coma, Ah can' kiss ya." She added. Her tone surprised both of them, and he shrugged and slipped out.

~~~~~~~~

"Ah just don't know, Will," she sighed. "Most of mah past Ah can't even remember, and Ah don't think it's worth it to try and remember. Ah guess with everyone else's memories in mah head, Ah lost mine." Rogue sighed as she and her friend sat talking at the kitchen table. It was late, but neither of them really cared.

"Wouldn't you like to know if someone wants to know where you are? Your biological family, I mean?" she asked. Rogue sighed again.

"Well, Irene told me that they knew who adopted me, but… Ah don't know if Ah can trust her. After all, she lied to me, too…" Rogue sighed again and buried her face in her hands. "It's hard to tell who to trust now… Ah don't know who lied to me or who told the truth…" she trailed off again.

"It must be hard," Willow comforted. "And if you ever had a boyfriend, you could never live without knowing the slight possibility that it was really Mystique playing tricks on you again. If you could touch, do you think you'd want a boyfriend?" she asked her. Rogue shrugged.

"Well, Ah don't think mah powers developed at that dance. Ah think they developed before, but Irene had kept me covered up, so Ah hadn't touched anyone since they formed," she said. "But Ah haven't really _touched_ anyone without drainin' them. Just Irene, really. So Ah don't know what it's like. Touchin' someone because you really care about them and they care about you." She laughed bitterly. "But who would want me?" she said softly.

"Me." A familiar voice said from the doorway. Rogue groaned and Willow heaved a sigh.

"We were tryin' ta talk," Rogue snapped, her accent pronouncing itself as it sometimes did. Remy sat himself down next to her.

"I know dat." He responded.

"Then go fuck a tree or whatever it is you like to do in your spare time," Rogue snapped at him. Willow giggled and both of their heads snapped around to look at her.

"Sorry," she said quickly. "I just had another disturbing and yet highly amusing mental image of Remy and the tree outside his window." She snickered again. Rogue smacked her forehead three times then sighed and quirked her eyebrow.

"Will, I think there's a game tonight," she said. Willow jumped out of her chair.

"That's right!" she yelled. "Angels versus the Bluejays!" she ran out of the room and both Remy and Rogue heard distant shouts of "Hey! We were watching the Yankees game!" or "At least watch the Tampa Bay game!" Willow responded "Yankees deserve to die!" and "Tampa Bay Devil Rays are the worst baseball team right now. Why would you want to watch them?" Rogue shook her head.

"Ah'm in a house filled with maniacs." She muttered.

"What music d'y' listen to?" he asked her absently. She glared at him.

"What do you care, Cajun?" she asked. He smiled cheekily.

"I want t' get t' know y'." He answered clearly. She rolled her eyes.

"Well, Ah don't want ta know you," she snapped. He shrugged.

"Then don' ask any questions," he responded, "Jus' answer," She groaned but nodded finally.

"Marilyn Manson, Garbage, KoRn, Evanescence, Finch, and the Alkaline Trio." She said angrily. He quirked an eyebrow.

"I had y' up t' Evanescence and the Alkaline trio, chere," he told her. She sneered at him.

"Not my fault ya don't listen ta good music, Cajun," she snapped.

"Can y' sing anyt'ing?" he asked her. She nodded hesitantly.

"'Tourniquet' by Evanescence," she muttered.

"Will y' sing it fo' me?" he asked her. 

"Fine," she snapped.

"My God, my Tourniquet, return to me salvation 

_My god, my Tourniquet, return to me salvation_

_My wounds cry for the grave_

_My soul cries for deliverance_

_Will I be denied?_

_Christ_

_Tourniquet_

_My suicide,_"

He shook his head. "Y' listen to anything _happy_, chere?" he asked her. She glared at him.

"Not usually by mah own free will." She responded sharply. She then stood up. "If you'll excuse me, Ah have homework. Ah'm goin' back to school tomorrow."

And with that, she swept out of the room, words ringing in her head.

Listentohappymusicwhydon'tI,anyways…whyissorrowsofamiliarwhycan'tIremeberwhydoeshemakemewanttoremember?

~~~~~~~~

Woah, that was long. I'm still working on trying to appropriately characterize everyone. Tell me if it's working.

Oh, and for those uninformed people, pretend it's August 1st, 2003. Angel's kicked Toronto's blue ass. And then we were effectively whomped on. Ah, well, can't be World Series Champions every year.

If you couldn't tell, I'm a rabid Angels fan. Sorry if you like the Bluejays or the Devil Rays or the Yankees. That's my personal opinion so I can make my characters agree with me if I want.

I am very happy right now. Donnelly has a sub-zero ERA!

Please review. It would be appreciated greatly. Any suggestions would be seriously considered, but I am not promising they will appear. Constructive criticism is welcome. Flames will be made fun of in my bio.

ishandahalf: e.e No Romy goodness til…chapter five. Craptacular. Anyways, yes that was a quick update! And now that I'm back from Mexico, I'm updating quickly again! Don't you just love the fact that I have no life?

Passionate Crow Rat: No, I don't realize how good this is because of the lack of reviews. Sorry if that sounded like I was blaming you…But I'm glad you like it enough to review.

No one else to respond to. Dammit. 

-The Tourniquet


	4. Immortal

Et Tous le Musique Arretee

Chapter 4: Immortal

A/N: You know, I really have to get off this writing-chapters-before-I-post-the-first-one jag. I did it with the All-American Rejects- which I have dropped because I decided I hated it- and this one. Hm. Anyways, reviews would be appreciated! Seeing as I'm living off of frappuccinos, cereal, and pizza rolls, it would cheer me up!

Disclaimer: Don't own anything except Willow and the plot. I don't own Fight Club. And if I forgot to mention it, Evan didn't leave the X-Men in this version. And there is an Evan/Pietro side-story. Slash. It's not a big deal to the plot. Just don't say I didn't warn you. Oh, and TWIST is a real magazine. One that is sent to preps. Do not ask how I know this.

Dedication: This chapter I dedicated to Passionate Crow Rat, who has reviewed every single chapter and always makes me feel good about my writing abilities.

~~~~~~~

"So, anything, like, you know, happening?" Kitty asked Rogue. The former lay on her stomach, stretched out on Rogue's bed, leafing through some magazine entitled "TWIST". The latter was leafing through her closet and throwing things on the ground.

"Ah still don' know why yoah makin' me do this," Rogue all but hissed at Kitty. Kitty just laughed and marked an ad for bubble-gum pink lipstick. 

"Because, I was like, hoping that you'd see my clothes and like, start dressing like me, you know?" she said. Rogue flinched at the excessive use of the word 'like', but sighed and didn't say anything about it.

"Kit, Ah can't show as much skin as you do," she pointed out. Kitty rolled off the bed, walked over to the closet, and pulled out one of Rogue's black halters.

"See this?" she said clearly. "It, like, totally shows soooo much more skin than any of my, like, shirts." She pointed out. Rogue snatched the shirt from her.

"Yeah, Kit, but Ah wear a shirt _ovah_ it," she pointed out. Kitty frowned at her more-pronounced Southern accent, fully aware that Rogue was doing it just to annoy her.

"Yeah, a like, totally see-through shirt!" she responded in mock-anger.

"Roguey wear see-through clothes?" Remy asked from the doorway. Rogue groaned and glared at Kitty.

"Now look what ya've done. Say the word 'see-through' in the same sentence as the word 'shirt' or mah name, and he comes runnin'. Besides, Ah don' wear it that much anymore," she said to Kitty, then absently pulled out a black corset with blue laces and frowned at it.

"Kit, ya want this?" she asked her. Kitty pulled a face.

"Like, no! I know black's like, totally slimming, but there is totally no way I could cram myself into that," she said, returning to her magazine. Remy snickered, and Rogue threw him a glare.

"Unless you're offerin' ta help, swamp rat, Ah suggest you leave." She said coldly. Remy shrugged.

"I'll help y' go t'rough y' underwear drawer, chere," he said suggestively. She threw down the corset and turned to Kitty.

"Kit," she almost whined, "Help me get him out of here!" she demanded. Kitty sighed and closed her magazine.

"Remy, I think you better, like, leave, before Rogue totally goes crazy on us, you know?" she told him seriously. He shook his head firmly.

"Y'd need a tractor to get me out of here."

"Swamp rat!" Rogue all but snarled, getting real close. "Ya leave now or Ah call Jean an' have her move yoah corpse." He shrugged and slipped away, and Kitty burst into high-pitched giggles. Rogue flinched and threw all her clothes in a nice, disorganized pile.

~~~~~~~

"Hey, Cajun," Willow said without looking up from her laptop. He sighed. "Rogue ignoring you?" she asked him, still scrolling and clicking absently. He glared at her.

"How long d'you t'ink it'll take?" he asked her. She shrugged. 

"Depends." She answered vaguely.

"On what?" he snapped at her. She closed the lid of her laptop and sighed.

"On how much she likes you," she told him simply. He nodded again, and moved to exist, but her next words caused him to pause.

"Just… don't break her heart, OK? She really needs someone who will care about her even if they can't touch her. And… she'll act like it doesn't matter, but inside, she'll be dead." He nodded again, and then left.

~~~~~

Rogue lay on her stomach sketching. Instead of a pencil, however, she held a thick black marker. Pounding, screaming music blared in her ears. 

"Music to kill someone by," she quoted aloud in a low voice as she scribbled another line.

"Remy agree, chere," he said from the doorway. She didn't look up, but her heart-rate increased.

"What y' doin', belle fille?" he asked her. She snorted.

"Having hot monkey sex with Edward Norton. What's it _look_ lahk Ah'm doin', Cajun?" she snapped. He cocked his head.

"Who dis Edward Norton, chere?" he asked her almost… protectively? She raised her eyebrows.

"Nevah heard o' him?" she asked skeptically. He shook his head. "Nevah seen Fight Club?" she asked even more skeptically. He shook his head again.

"I am Jack's shocked silence," Willow called from the hall as she walked past, and Rogue burst into laughter.

Remy shook his head, but decided to ask Willow about Fight Club.

~~~~

"Willow, what dis 'Fight Club' Roguey talk 'bout?" Remy asked her as she stood washing dishes. Punishment, he supposed, for doing _something_. Despite her age, Willow was always in trouble.

"The first rule of Fight Club is: You do not talk about Fight Club." She snapped. "If you don't mind, I'm trying to finish this, because then I have something I promised Evan I'd do." She added angrily, and then at his look, sighed regretfully. "Ok, Cajun, you've got until I finish these dishes. Ask me what you want to know about the movie." She told him.

"So it's a movie?" he asked her, and she nodded.

"Rogue's favorite. It was good," she told him as she rinsed glasses.

"Who's in it?" he asked her, and she rolled her eyes.

"It doesn't matter," she told him. "Now can we get off the topic? Your charm-eye-hypnotizey-thingy freaks me out!" she complained, and he was surprised.

"How'd y' know-" he started, but he was interrupted once again.

"It doesn't affect me, so I can tell when you're using it." She snapped, and put away the last dish. "Now, go. Rogue and I gotta bail with Ev," she told him, "And we'll never get out that god-damned door if you latch onto her," she kind of explained, shoving him toward the door.

"Why de t'ree o' you?" he asked her.

"Because you're annoying, Kitty can't keep a secret, Jean's a bitch and Scott would tell. That leaves us. Besides, we're friends. We hang together. So we're allowed to go out a night in a group without anyone thinking it's a date between two of us and the other is there so adults don't know it's a date," she emphasized the word 'date', and he guessed it was her way of telling him it wasn't one.

He opened his mouth again, but- once again –she interrupted him, which seemed to be a habit of hers.

"Catch ya later," she called as she walked out the door, and before it was closed, he heard her yell something like, "Right! We ready to break just about every rule the Institute has imposed upon us?" and two laughs. One deeper, male- so Evan. The other was beautiful melodious. The laugh of a singer. Rogue.

~~~~~~

"So, what _is_ your curse?" Rogue asked Willow as they leaned against a tree. She shrugged. "No, ya ain't getin' away with it this time!" Rouge mock-threatened. "C'mon, ya c'n tell me. Ah can keep a secret," she urged. Willow took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"My real name is Esme/," she said softly. 

"And…?" Rogue asked, trailing off.

"You can't touch," she said through unshed tears that glimmered like cold stars in her eyes. "But at any moment, you could offer yourself release."

"Release…?" she asked, trailing off expectantly again.

"I can't die," Willow- Esme/?- whispered. "When I was born, I tested HIV positive. I never died. Three years ago, I was told that the virus disappeared. I was no longer dying. So the theory that I came up with was that when I was supposed to die, since I couldn't, I simply was healed. I…shot myself. In the head. I woke up an hour later, the gun still in my hands. I tried everything, but I didn't die!" she spoke louder and louder throughout this, and tears spilled from her eyes.

~~~~~~~~

Now that I've revealed Willow/Esme/'s mysterious mutation, she will get shoved into the shadows. She will have her glorious moments, for those that like her, but she will still go by Willow. Because remember: Only Rogue knows. I was listening to Screaming Infidelities when I wrote this- it's a fabulous song, you really have to listen to it- and I know the end of the plot. I want reviews! Pretty please? The more reviews I get, the sooner I update! 

And if I didn't mention it- **don't e-mail me until I say otherwise. If my inbox overloads before hotmail lets me in again, I am so screwed. So take pity on me and REVIEW instead of e-mailing.**

Please review.

Shout-outs:

Passionate Crow Rat: I continued! Let me make one thing very, very clear: I will finish this story. I'm glad you like it.^^

Geminidragon: Mine's the best of the best! I feel so special! I think I got your review when I got back from Mexico, so it was a ver very nice welcome back present. I'm very glad you like this.

Laureate: I know, I know, sucky French. But I've never taken a foreign language, so if you would help me correct it for future chapters, I would like it. I might change the title to be correct. As to your second review, for chapter three, yes, Remy is a babe. I'm glad you're still reading. Was this soon enough? If not, keep in mind I went four days without computer access.

Fishy: Sorry you had to wait so long. I was in Northern California. But I'm glad you like this story!

Amanda14: Sorry about the language. As I've stated, that's just how a lot of people I know talk. But I'm glad you took a chance to read this!

Yumiko: Actually, by the time you read this, I'll have at least started on chapter seven. I'm trying not to shove chapters out every two days because when I go back to school, people will expect long chapters. But next chapter, the romance begins and it only gets better…

-The Tourniquet.

Lyrics: Immortal, by Adema- "Insomniac's Dream". For Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance:

_LET'S FIGHT!_

_We're face to face_

_Loyalty is what I need to see from you_

_You're insecure_

_I can see the fear that breeds in your heart_

_Where will you run? Where will you hide?_

_I see the look drift from your eyes_

_Who will survive? Let's get it on_

_And we'll fight_

_I know who you are_

_The leader of lost souls_

_You can't kill me_

_I'm immortal_

_I'm not afraid to die_

_My soul will travel on_

_You can't kill me I'm immortal_

_Immortal_

_Immortal_

_Immortal_

_I need the rush_

_There's nowhere you can hide before you die_

_Why won't you face me? I can see the fear that's in your eyes_

_Where will you run? Where will you hide?_

_I see the blood drip from your eyes*_

_Let's get it on_

_And we'll fight_

_I know who you are_

_The leader of lost souls_

_You can't kill me _

_I'm immortal_

_I'm not afraid to die_

_My soul will travel on_

_You can't kill me_

_I'm immortal_

_Where will you run? Where will you hide?_

_Let's fight!_

 _I know who you are_

_The leader of lost souls_

_You can't kill me _

_I'm immortal_

_I'm not afraid to die_

_My soul will travel on_

_You can't kill me_

_I'm immortal_

_I know who you are_

_The leader of lost souls_

_You can't kill me _

_I'm immortal_

_I'm not afraid to die_

_My soul will travel on_

_You can't kill me_

_I'm immortal_

_You can't kill me!_

_Immortal!_

_You can't kill me!_

_Immortal!_

_You can't kill me!_

_Immortal!_

_You can't kill me!_

*the site I got this from said the first one: "I see the look drift from your eyes", but in the game music video it sounds like the second one: "I see the blood drip from your eyes". Choose the one you like. If you want to see the lyrics for previous chapters, say so in a review and I'll post them


	5. Gets it Faster

Et Tous le Musique Arretee

Chapter 5: Gets it Faster

A/N: I want reviews! Ok, so I'm writing this exactly a day after I post chapter two, but why don't people review? I am a lost, lonely person! Take pity on me! And if you review I will probably bow down before you. I live off of reviews and frappuccinos, or however the hell you spell it. I went ahead because of my two vacations in August- Mexico and a beachside hotel about an hour's drive from where I live. This way, when I got back from Mexico, chapter three could be posted without any wait.

Anyways, please review.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. I do not X-Men: Evolution or this song, which is by A.F.I. and on the CD "The Art of Drowning". Nor do I own 'mOBSCENE' which is by Marilyn Manson and on the CD "The Golden Age of Grotesque".There. You can't sue me.

Dedication: This is dedicated to all my reviewers who were impatient with me for putting Romy-goodness off until chapter five, and now you really don't get it until chapter six. If you want to shoot me, I understand…

~~~~~~~

Rogue was listening to 'mOBSCENE' on repeat and finishing up a sketch when Remy knocked on her door. Not knowing it was him, she called, "Come in!" over the music. The door opened slowly, and she turned her head. Kitty would have phased in, and Kurt would have ported in. No one else ever looked for her, except…

Remy.

Crapcrapcrap.

She shifted so she was on her side and her head was propped on her hand.

"What do ya want _now_, Cajun?" she all but snapped. Her eyes softened, though, when she saw his eyes flit back towards the door. "Sorry. Ah'm not in a great mood raht now." He shrugged.

"Y' _ever_ in a great mood, p'tite?" he asked her pointedly. She mimicked his action and shrugged her shoulders.

"In case you haven't caught on, sugah, there ain't much reason foh me ta be." She pointed out. He smiled that god-damned beautiful smile and she didn't know what to say or do.

"Den I give you a reason, chere," he told her cockily. Crapcrapcrap.

"What the hell are ya playin' at, swamp rat?" she asked him. He told her.

"Y're havin' dinner wit' me tomorrow night, chere," he told her easily. She raised an eyebrow, and he marveled at how she made the gesture seem both challenging and skeptical.

"And _what _made ya think that Ah would actually agree to that?" she asked him. He shrugged.

"Jus' had a feelin' y' would want t', chere," he told her simply. Suddenly it didn't seem like such a bad idea- she really didn't have anything to worry about, it wasn't like he could touch her.

"Alraht," she finally agreed, then turned back to her sketch. Why had she not wanted to go in the first place? He slipped out the door, satisfied.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~*~*~*~*~DREAM SEQUENCE ~*~*~*~*~

Blaring music. Freakin' music keeping people from hearing her desperate cries… His body pressed against hers, cold fingers entangled in her hair. His other hand was working on the tie of her shirt while she trembled. Finally- though it didn't seem long enough to her- he worked out the knot. Luckily she'd worn a bra. Her eyes widened as his cold, cold hands caressed her skin. With a burst of desperation, she struggled and opened her mouth to scream, but he slapped her and clamped a coldcoldcold hand over her mouth.

His shirt was off, but she was positive that if it had been her choice, she wouldn't even _be _here. But he'd made it very, very clear that she **didn't** have a choice. His lips, as icy- if not more so- as his hands, trailed along her collarbone. She struggled away. He grabbed her arm and twisted her to face him and she really did scream but that stupid blaring pounding music kept everyone else from hearing her. If that music hadn't been playing then she wouldn't still _be_ here, slammed against the wall of a dark, empty closet. She looked down.

_If I don't look at him then he doesn't exist…_ she mentally screamed. He tilted her face up, coldcoldcold fingers grasping her chin firmly, roughly. Hands on her wrist and chin _coldcoldcold God, please, **no**!_ she mentally pleaded.

Looking into brown eyes but now they were those familiar soft brown ones that belonged to Remy.

She screamed and sat up straight in bed, drenched in sweat and clenching her right wrist.

~*~*~*~*~*A little note I might have forgotten to mention: In Day of Reckoning, Remy has brown eyes- it has to be an image inducer, contacts don't cover the whites of your eyes- but in 'The Toad, the Witch, and the Wardrobe' they're red and black, the same in 'Under Lock and Key'- but Rogue doesn't see him in those episodes. Because of the All-Star game, I missed 'The Stuff of Villains' where Rogue sees Remy at Bayville High, but I'm going to pretend his eyes were brown there. So she's never seen his spiff-tacular red-on-black 'demon' eyes.~*~*~*~*

"Rogue! Are you like, alright?" Kitty asked her. The Gothic girl only stared blankly at her sheets.

"What _was_ that?" she asked herself, shaking her head.

~~~~~~~

"Eat." Logan spoke plainly, shoving the plate of pancakes across towards Rogue. She shook her head slightly. 

"Ah'm not that hungry. Ah'll grab somethin' from Starbucks and have a big lunch." She told him flatly. She wore a shirt like her sheer green one, only it was blood red, and a ripped tank top. When she stood, her black jeans adorned with chains made everyone stare.

"What?" she demanded, and they all shook her head. After she left, though, they turned to Kitty expectantly, who shrugged.

"She, like, had another shopping spree at Lip Service!" she exclaimed in a hushed voice, and everyone except Remy nodded understandingly. 

"Lip Service?" he asked slowly. Kitty shrugged.

"It's like, some Goth-punk online store-thingy. Rogue totally spends all her money there. It's like, she has pretty much everything." She said with a shrug.

~~~~For those that are wondering, Lip Service actually DOES exist. I don't know if anything I described can be found there, but they have some really gorgeous designs~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Rogue, like, hurry!" Kitty complained. Rogue darted out of the mansion, deep red lipstick covering her lips pulled into a frown. She opened the door to the Jeep and found Remy sitting in the last seat.

"What is he doin' here?" she asked angrily. She had good reason for her anger- she would either have to sit on Remy or Kurt's lap in order to get a ride to school. Remy smirked up at her, fully aware of her predicament.

"He's going somewhere." Scott replied, obviously angry as well. Rogue weighed her options in her mind. Sit on Remy's lap…urgh. But piss off Scott…good…piss of Jean, who obviously was interested in Remy…even better. Finally she groaned and threw her backpack in, settling herself angrily on his lap, smirking inwardly as Scott and Jean's jaws dropped simultaneously. 

She looked pointedly at Remy in the rearview mirror. "Get any ideas and Ah won't hesitate ta put ya in a coma," she warned him, and he shrugged. Kurt looked almost as astonished as Scott- Jean's astonishment had quickly turned to jealousy and rage. Rogue didn't even think she _liked_ Remy, but she mentally taunted Jean, fully aware that the girl could hear her. _Eat your heart out, Miss Priss,_ she projected on purpose. Remy must have understood what she'd done because he laughed at Jean's expression.

The ride was uneventful with the exception of Rogue taking every chance she could to anger Jean. But it was all inside her head, so Jean technically couldn't prove anything. But Rogue knew that she would get her revenge.

When they finally arrived at the school parking lot, Rogue found it crowded. Crap. How the hell was she supposed to get out without anyone noticing she had been sitting on a guy's lap?

Jean, apparently, had followed her train of thought and telekinetically opened her door. All. The. Way.

So, the whole student body gaped at the Goth girl sitting on the hot guy's lap.

~~~~~~~~

Nobody really paid attention to Bronwyn. She was just… considered crazy. Last year she had jumped off the roof and survived because huge black devil wings had burst from her back. The year before she had tried to hang herself. Every passing year brought her closer to actually killing herself. Her suicide attempts were just amusement to everyone.

But nobody knew, did they? Those wings, those wings that had saved her would also kill her. And despite her shy, quiet act, Bronwyn was actually quite the schemer. 

So when she found out she was going to die- she promised herself something- she would not be the only one to go down.

~~~~~

Ooooohhhhhh… cliffie… I know you all want to shoot me, even though…no…one…is…reading…this. But, that was fun. The idea of Rogue on Remy's lap was just far too inviting, I'm sorry. And, yes, Bronwyn has a purpose. Everything has a purpose. It's like an RPG. You have to pay attention to the details.

And the title was a major hint to what's going on. If you think you know, guess in a review ~_^

Shout-Outs:

Laureate: Eh…huh? As for the translating-ness, I appreciate it. Thank you! Was this fast enough?

Ishandahalf: Ehh… not exactly the fluff you wanted, huh? Oh, well, chapter six will come soon enough. All the sooner if you review. But… I appreciate it. And I don't think I responded to your review for chapter three: yeah, I love AFI as well, but somehow I don't think Kurt would. I appreciate your reviews!

Yumiko: Romy romance…heh. I laughed at that. I found it amusing. I know, I know, I promised romance in chapter five. But… there's lots in chapter six to make up for it! And you know how to get to that fluff faster…*winks* Review like you did.

Agent Goodnight-23: Don't you love Rogue's character design? Originally, Remy was going to say, "Playing hard to get, I see," and Rogue was going to respond, "I'm not PLAYING hard to get, I AM hard to get," but I cut it out. Anyways, yeah, I had to make Esme/ suffer. I hope this was soon enough.

Passionate Crow Rat: Everyone seems to love the "hard-to-get-ness" so I have one thing to say: OOPS. Ah, well, can you blame me? Yeah, Rogue rocks. Anyways, I updated, so will you review? Pretty please?

Weeble Wobble Chic: Woah. A new reviewer. I feel special. Anyways, it's really simple to gain MY luv, too. All you have to do is review! Holy crap, I've been writing too much poetry. Anyways, I'm glad you like it.

Lyrics- Please note that I took only a small section of the lyrics for this chapter. The reason is, simply, the rest didn't really fit and I couldn't think of anything else. So there.

I wanna do right by you 

_I'm finding out that cheating gets it faster_

_I'm holding out, not getting an answer_

_I'm finding out that cheating gets it faster_

That song rocks. I love the guitar rip in the interlude. Best part of the song.

-The Tourniquet


	6. First Date

Et Tous le Musique Arretee

Chapter 6: First Date

A/N: Survey! I wanted to put it in chapter five, but I… forgot. Oops. So, it's a chapter late. Check out the bottom after you read this!Anyways, READ THIS CHAPTER BEFORE THE SURVEY!

Any other suggestions are welcome.

And, I ask you now, review. Please?

Disclaimer: I own: the plot, Willow/Esme, Bronwyn, and nothing else. Please don't sue. The dress she has on is actually one from Lip Service. You can view it at 

, and I described as well as I could and made it a bit longer.

This is dedicated to my wonderful sister who made me make it longer and spiffier and who is making me write two versions of Die Young and Leave a Pretty Corpse. She's also probably also my best friend on the freakin' planet.

Oh, and it's safe to e-mail me again. I like e-mail. I check about three times a day, so it's almost guaranteed I'll get it the day you send it or the day after.

~~~~~~~~

"This is jus' _great_," Rogue muttered as she slammed her locker shut. Everyone had seen her on Remy's lap and they completely disregarded the fact that she couldn't touch- and she still wasn't sure if they knew about that- and spread rumors about her being his bitch or something. She had rolled her eyes when she heard Taryn whispering something along those lines to some girl. Yeah, right. He wished.

"Hel-loooo!" Kitty all but yelled as she approached her. Rogue winced. Great. Kitty on caffeine. "So what's goin' on between you and that new guy?" she asked her teasingly. Rogue kicked the locker underneath hers, pretending to be unaware of the fact that it was Jean's friend's.

"Nothin'!" she replied indignantly as the two girls walked.

"Great!" Kitty said cheerfully. "Because tonight, I like, wanna go see Pirates of the Caribbean, and I thought you'd totally want to go!" she told Rogue as they headed towards the cafeteria. Rogue's mind instantly went to her plans for that night.

"Sorry, Kit, Ah can't." she said without thinking. Shit!

"Why?" Kitty asked her. "Does this have anything to do with all your mysteeeeerious like outings with Willow?" she asked.

"No," Rogue said. Oh, fuck. Open mouth, insert fucking foot.

"Ooooh, something even more mysterious." Kitty stated. "Who?" she asked bluntly. Rogue was taken aback.

"What are ya goin' on 'bout now, Kit?" she asked her suspiciously.

"It's Remy, isn't it! Like, oh my GOD!" Kitty squealed. Rogue groaned.

"Why did Ah tell ya?" she asked rhetorically. "Oh, God, Kit, please don't tell Jean!" she said suddenly, fully aware that Jean would 'accidentally' follow them in her trashiest clothes. Kitty was babbling on about how cute they would be together. When they reached their table, Rogue banged her head on the top.

"I won't." the Valley girl finally promised. And Rogue knew she meant it.

~~~

"What're you gonna wear tonight?" Kitty asked Rogue who was leafing through a CD binder. The latter shrugged, rolling onto her back and staring at the ceiling.

"Ah dunno," she drawled. "Ah dunno why Ah even agreed ta go, but Ah guess it's no big deal." Kitty looked at Rogue in amazement.

"No big deal?!? Rogue, a guy is like, totally interested in you! It's a like, huge deal!" Rogue rolled her eyes and Kitty's level of volume.

"Thanks, Kit. Thanks a lot." She muttered. Kitty rolled her eyes.

"I _meant_ a guy who doesn't care that he can't, like, you know, _touch you_!" she explained. Rogue stiffened somewhat. The memory of her dream- cold hands and soft eyes- flashed through her mind, but she pushed it to the back of her head. Kitty hadn't noticed her friend's momentary silence, and babbled on. "I mean, I don't even like the guy, but you know, if he doesn't care that he can't like, touch you, then he's totally OK in my book!" she continued. Rogue rolled her eyes.

"Kit, Ah'm not even sure Ah like the guy." She pointed out. Kitty looked at her pointedly at rolled her eyes exaggeratedly.

"Yeah, and you agreed to go out on a date with him for like, totally no reason!" she said. Rogue struggled to think of something to say. 

"I knew it!" the Valley girl screamed at her friend's silence. She rolled around on her bed, laughing.

"Knew what?" Remy asked from the doorway.

"That you're an asshole." Rogue stated without looking at him. He shrugged.

"Dress nice, chere," he called as he walked away. Rogue screamed into her black pillow.

"Does he have to announce it to the whole house?" she shrieked. Kitty laughed even harder and Rogue scowled, practically boring a hole in the wall with her eyes. Jean walked by, seeing Rogue looking pissed and Kitty in hysterics, and shrugged.

It was always best not to ask when you lived in this mansion. It was called an Institute with good reason.

~~~~~~~

Willow looked up from her book- Cranberry Queen- and whistled. Rogue was wearing a red dress with long, peasant shoulder-sleeves. A little past the elbow, the burgundy fabric became black fishnet woven into a pattern. It laced up and had lines in black like a corset on the top, and the front of the skirt had the same black mesh pattern set into it over black satin. It came down to her knees, and she wore black gloves, black tights, and black boots with crimson laces.

"What?" she demanded. She wore the same crimson lipstick, but her eyes were outlined with black eyeliner and a brush of deep red eyeshadow also adorned them. Willow just shook her head.

"Goin' out somewhere? Where?" she asked, then raised an eyebrow, her own eyes heavily circled in deep blue eyeliner and green mascara. "Or, should I ask, with who?" she added. 

"None o' yoah business, city brat," she snapped as she sat down and crossed her legs. Remy walked in, wearing a gray dress shirt and nice black pants, both of which hung on him very nicely.

"I knew it!" Willow cried, and Rogue threw a glare at her.

"Why does everyone keep sayin' that?" she demanded angrily. Willow shrugged. "Es- Will," she fixed quickly, glancing worriedly at Remy, who looked curious but didn't question it. "It's just a first date! Nothin's gonna happen!" she snapped at Willow, who slunk out of the room, but not before she called a mocking parting.

"Yeah, keep in mind that some people were BORN because of a first date. Most people, actually, but whatever…"

She gestured to them. "Why the gloves?" she asked. He gently reached over and pulled one of her own gloves off.

"So y' don' have t' wear yours," he told her simply, but she pulled her hand away.

"Remy!" she hissed. "Ah could accidentally touch someone!" She tried to get her glove back, but he pulled it away.

"Non, belle femme," he said gently. "Tonight, y' wear no gloves," She sighed resignedly and pulled her other glove off, handing it cautiously to him.

"Good," he said, entwining his fingers with hers. "Ready?" he asked her, and she nodded. She herself wasn't sure why, but she didn't untangle her fingers from his.

~~~~~~~~~

The restaurant was nice. She felt stupid for thinking that- he _had_ told her to dress nice, after all- but if he had told her it was _this_ nice, she probably would not have worn a dress from Lip Service. Maybe something from the back of her closet, something Kitty or Jean gave her. She felt incredibly out of place- people, especially men, were blatantly staring at her. Remy wrapped an arm around her waist, and she didn't shove him away. She didn't let him pull her closer, and the Cajun had the brains to not try that. She assumed he was basically telling all the rich bitches where to stuff it.

Remy noticed all the men staring with obvious interest in Rogue. From her nervous shift to rest most of her weight on one foot, he gathered she thought that they were staring at her choice of clothing. He, however, realized that they were staring at her because she was beautiful. He wasn't exactly sure what to do- if he put an arm around her, she might push him away. But, then, the others would realize they didn't have a chance. And being humiliated was better than having all those men- most of which had girlfriends, but the girls were too busy staring at Remy to notice their men staring at Rogue-looking at Rogue like she was a trophy, not a person.

He wrapped his arm around her waist, and she didn't pull away. The red velvet-like fabric of her dress brushed against his wrist as he stretched an arm to pull her closer. It was worth wearing gloves; he could tell she felt more normal at not having to cover up almost every square inch of skin.

"LeBeau," Remy told the waiter simply, and he nodded, but not before he threw a disrespectful look at Rogue. Once he sighted the closeness though, he looked away, somewhat embarrassed. Remy was highly amused and Rogue was uncomfortable. His arm around her felt _right_ in a way she couldn't really describe- had it been anyone else, she would have pushed them away without a doubt. But with Remy, it just seemed…natural.

Much as she appreciated him wearing gloves so she wouldn't have to, she wasn't sure if he realized the full danger of her going without gloves. But to look down and see her bare hands, she could almost lie to herself and say she could touch. If she didn't look at his hands, then she could pretend they were normal people on a normal date.

"Chere?" Remy said cautiously, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Sorry," she said quickly. "Ah was just thinkin'." She said as a half-explanation.

"'Bout what, p'tite?" he asked her. She shrugged and looked sadly and at a couple holding hands. No gloves. Skin. On. Skin.

"Ah just wish that Ah could touch…" she sighed. He shook his head.

"It is a pity, belle femme, but not'in' y' can do, non?" he said. She snapped her head up.

"You jus' don't know what it's like," she said, emerald eyes ablaze. "You've _always_ been able ta touch. Ah mean, when Ah was little Ah nevah was the touchy-feely kind. But now? Ah see everyone so happy, and Ah just wish that _Ah_ could be that happy." She stated firmly. He reached over slowly and entwined their fingers again.

"I _will_ find a way t' let y' touch, p'tite," he vowed, even as she gently tried to disentangle their fingers.

"Why do you even _care_?" she asked him, somewhat amazed that he did.

"B'cause a femme as beautiful as y' should b' able t' touch," he answered without thought. She arched an eyebrow.

"Did you just call meh beautiful?" she asked him.

"Oui," 

"And ya don't think that Ah'm a psycho depressed freak because Ah like to wear dark colors an' Ah'm rarely nice?"

"Non. Dat's who y' are. Remy like dat, chere,"

"There's a firs'," she muttered, and he squeezed her hand gently.

"Remy don' see why de other guys aren't askin' y' out ev'ry night,"

"Maybe it has somethin' ta do with mah inability to touch?" He waved his hand as if that was insignificant.

"If y' really cared 'bout a femme, y' wouldn' need t' touch her f'r her t' know," he pointed out.

"Ah… really appreciate that, Remy," she said softly. He smiled at her again.

"Mebbe by now y' know Remy cares 'bout y', chere." She didn't know what to say to that. He'd made it very clear he cared about her, and now he'd made it clear he didn't mind not being able to touch her.

"I know ya care, Remy," she finally said.

"Good," 

And they spent the rest of their time together. They talked about everything and nothing. And Rogue decided that, maybe, she cared about him, too.

~~~~~~~~~

After dinner, they went for a walk. They ended up on the cliffs near the mansion. She was wearing his jacket, and they sat, looked at the stars, and talked. They talked about their pasts. He was honest about his past as a thief, and she told the truth: she couldn't remember. She told him that it had been worse whe she couldn't tell which child life was hers and which was someone else's.

He draped an arm around her shoulders as it began to get darker and some of the lights at the Institute were turned out. His gloved fingers gently stroked her cheek, and she leaned her head on his shoulder. Had anyone seen them that didn't know them, they would have said that they were a normal couple.

Rogue couldn't help but notice how much he liked touching her. Even if it was covered, he seemed to always want to touch her. He would stroke her face, entwine their fingers, wrapping an arm around her, anything he could. It made her feel like someone normal when she saw his hand reach out to stroke her face. But instead of the feeling of skin, she felt fabric, and again she knew it was a curse.

"It's late, p'tite," he whispered in her ear, much closer than anybody was, but she didn't mind.

"We should head back," she murmured in response. As they walked by he held her hand again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Rogue came back to the mansion, she flopped onto her bed in her dark room and sighed.

"Have a nice daa-aaateee?" Kitty asked her teasingly. Rogue just threw a pillow at her.

"Well, that answers _that_ question," Kitty observed as Rogue walked into the bathroom to change.

~~~~~~~~~~

Finished chapter six! I am a cruel, cruel person. Ha. And thus starts the romance, whee! Aren't I special? Sorry about the language up to this point, it's kind of going to stop. I mean, I'd hate to upset anyone. That's just how my friends and I usually talk when we're not around adults.

And if you read my bio, you read that right. I _do_ in fact go to a private Catholic school.

Anyways, on to the story. I'm taking suggestions on how much romance I should do before I explain what that dream was all about and get to the actual plot.

I know what you're all saying: There's a plot here? Shock, horror, we couldn't tell.

I had to re-write the date scene. Originally, it had Evietro in it, but then I just gave up on that. I can't do slash-on-the-side. It's either slash, or no-slash, and they wouldn't be a main couple, so I'm not going to waste my time. I had to rewrite the date-scene where they talk like, three time. In the original two, Rogue was still making snappy comments but being all touchy-feely with Remy, which didn't make sense because in all the other chapters, she was playing hard to get. But it makes sense now, right? He's being all cute and sweet. 

Please review!

Shout-Outs:

Passionate Crow Rat: Eh… no new girl. Oops. And I don't think she's in the next chapter, either. Oh, well, just remember her. Please?

Heartsyhawk: Yeah, Willow's the kind of girl that would stay up until two in the morning and then wake up at six. I did that once, actually. On accident. Anyways, I'm so glad that I got a new reviewer. It was a pleasant surprise.

Yumiko: Yeah, now I think you know I'm an angst addict. But, there's no angst in this chapter! Just fluff. But, hey, it's "Drama" for a reason.

Skye: I'm glad you like it! And… eh… I continued? Anyways, that isn't dorky, I love that song too.

Laureate: I'm glad you're still reading and the bad-bad-bad French didn't make you hate it. Anyways, thanks so much for beta-ing!

Weeble Wobble Chic: Keep in mind I wrote that before I knew you existed, so… Yes, your reviews count! The whole on-Remy's-lap thing seems very popular. It was inspired by my life- I'm the skinniest person in my family, so whenever we ran out of seats when I was little, I would have to sit on my sister's lap. Once they thought I was her daughter. Anyways, yeah, I wouldn't mind sitting on his lap. ^^;

Ishandahalf: As for the dream, you'll find out…eventually. Mwa ha ha ha. 

Agent Goodnight-23: Let me put it straight: Willow and Bronwyn are completely different people. Willow is actually a girl named Esme O'Connor- and I AM aware that that's an Irish last name- going by the name Willow, who is in all senses of the word, immortal. Bronwyn Corr is a teenaged girl who has wings that burst out of her back at spontaneous moments. That's a good question, though.

Rynn Abhorsen: Eh…thanks? I'm glad you feel that way, but if you have anything else in common with Bronwyn, personality-wise, you need a therapist+_+. Anyways, glad ya like it.

Rogue Pryde: Sorry it took so long…meh. You were my thirtieth reviewer, so… I love you!__

Lyrics: "First Date" by Blink-182. I took it not because of the lyrics, but the title. So sue me. Or, rather, don't. Anyways, the lyrics:

_In the car I just can't wait  
to pick you up on our very first date  
is it cool if I hold your hand?  
is it wrong if I think it's lame to dance?  
do you like my stupid hair?  
would you guess that I didn't know what to wear?  
I'm just scared of what you think  
you make me nervous so I really can't eat  
  
Let's go  
don't wait__  
__this nights almost over  
honest, let's make  
this night last forever  
forever and ever  
let's make this last forever  
forever and ever  
let's make this last forever  
  
When you smile, I melt inside  
I'm not worthy for a minute of your time  
I really wish it was only me and you  
I'm jealous of everybody in the room  
please don't look at me with those eyes  
please don't hint that you're capable of lies  
I dread the thought of our very first kiss  
a target that I'm probably gonna miss  
  
Let's go  
don't wait  
this nights almost over  
honest, let's make  
this night last forever  
forever and ever  
let's make this last forever  
forever and ever  
let's make this last forever  
  
Let's go  
don't wait  
this nights almost over  
honest, let's make  
this night last forever  
forever and ever  
let's make this last forever  
forever and ever  
let's make this last forever  
forever and ever  
let's make this last forever  
forever and ever  
let's make this last forever_

Survey: Ha! I tricked you into thinking I lied! Er, not really. Anyways. The survey:

-Should I keep naming chapters after songs, or give up on that?

-Should I change the "drama" to "action/adventure" and do a different plotline that I **was** saving for the sequel?

-Should I skip a few months to make Rogue and Remy's sudden closeness make more sense, or write most of their dates for more romance?

-Should I introduce one of the big baddies of the sequel in this story, or should I wait in case I change my mind?

-Should the Brotherhood team up with the X-Men and ex-Acolytes?

-Should I make an actual attempt at writing the accents decently?

-Should Remy confront Rogue about what's terrifying her, or should he trust her enough to believe she'll tell him?

-What is your honest opinion of the story so far?

-Should Kitty end up with Piotr or Lance?

-Should Kurt make more of an appearance as the over-protective brother?

-When should Willow reveal who she _really_ is?

-Should I go into more detail on Bronwyn, or wait until her importance is revealed? (And, before someone asks- because I know at least ONE person must be wondering- she's not Belladonna in disguise. The fact that it was a possibility occurred to me later, but, since I'm unfamiliar with her character, no. Sorry, but no. And I'm not familiar at all with her personality. So nyah-nyah.)

-Should I leave the dreams unexplained for the sequel, or use the plot I have fully planned out?

-Finally, should Rogue write her first song a) in this story, with Remy's help, b) in this story, and have Remy be the first to listen to it c) in this story, takes place during the last chapter but doesn't talk about it d) in this story, takes place in last chapter and makes a big deal about it or e) in the sequel?

Please review! Just know that I may not go on what gets the most votes. And note that changes will not appear until chapter twelve, BUT there's a combination of fluff and plot in chapters seven-eleven. Heh, seven-eleven…

Any other suggestions you have, feel free to add them.

-The Tourniquet


	7. Suteki Da Ne?

Et Tous le Musique Arretee

Chapter Seven: Suteki Da Ne?/Isn't it Wonderful?

A/N: And so I use a Japanese song for the first time. And, yes, that is the real translation. Yes, it does come from a video game. Yes, they kept it in Japanese for the game. Does that answer your questions? Anyways, for this oh-so special chapter, I put the lyrics in **both** languages at the bottom.

Disclaimer: I own: Willow, Bronwyn, and the plot. Other characters, locations, and ideas are copyrighted to Marvel. I claim no ownership and no money is being made. I obviously don't own Fight Club either.

And, um, survey results at the bottom of the chapter. BU-FREAKIN'-YA.

~~~~

Rogue was happier in the following days. True, she was still the sullen, sarcastic Goth, but Remy seemed to have cheered her up considerably. She hadn't actually told anyone; she had a sneaking suspicion that Jean had probed her mind to find out where they'd gone that night and told everyone. She really didn't mind, though. At least she wasn't a nosy bitch who had to try to make everyone's life miserable because a guy wasn't falling all over her.

School was, as usual, a pain. The teachers had decided that open season on mutants hadn't ended, and Rogue got a detention for 'that stunt in the car'. When Rogue had asked what they were talking about- actually managing to restrain from using profanity –they reminded her about her sitting in Remy's lap. She'd simply replied, 'So?' They'd been angry.

_It was worth it though_, she mused then smirked inwardly as Jean walked by, throwing her an evil glare that would have made Logan proud. Except it wasn't very intimidating on a girl wearing a pink shirt and jeans. But it was even _more_ worth it when Remy came to pick her up. Jean had actually thought that he was there to pick her up. She'd walked over, but Remy had told her, in front of almost the whole school and very loudly, where to stick it. Rogue had to hear from Kitty, because she'd been in detention.

Willow had confirmed their suspicions of insanity and spent ages on her computer, pausing every once and a while to take a break, but not that much. Kitty herself had been the first to ask Willow for help on something. _Those two seem to have gotten very close_, Rogue noted. Remy was making her practice her French on him, so she actually had to pay attention in class. She would much rather be playing her guitar.

Then there was that freaky girl was her partner for French. She was plain in a kind of Californian way- tan, dirty blonde hair, scrawny. Her eyes would have looked almost childlike if not for the heavy eyeliner. Her name, apparently, was Bronwyn. No last name, though Rogue had no room to talk. She didn't seem to care about the class. What Rogue didn't understand is, she was a human. So why had the teacher paired them?

Well, that was a stupid question. Obviously, they were hoping she would fail. But, also obviously, they hadn't realized her boyfriend was Cajun.

Or, at least, that was assuming Remy was her boyfriend.

~~~~~~~~~

Kitty was dancing in their room, listening to a CD. Rogue walked in, dropped her backpack, and flopped back on the bed. Kitty turned off her music- which turned out to be the soundtrack for some random movie.

"Did Re-my take you home on your motorcycle?' she said teasingly, drawing out his name so it was two words.

"Very funny." Rogue snapped, and pulled out her French book. Kitty opened her mouth, but Rogue interrupted her.

"One word and I will kill you." She told her simply.

"Yeah, but you're, like, lucky. You have someone to like, practice on!" Silence followed Kitty's statement as Rogue tried not to slap her.

"Kitty, Ah don't think ya realized the implications of that…" Rogue said slowly, and Kitty screamed. The freshman threw her pillow at the older girl, who threw it back with a laugh.

Scott walked by, shaking his head, deciding not to question the sanity of the two girls.

~~~~~~~~

_Click._ She cocked the gun perfectly. Just like any psycho would. Bullets scattered at her feet. Holes in the wall. 

Blood. 

On.

Her.

Hands.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Chere," Remy said, and Rogue looked up from her math homework. He'd expected her to glare at him, but, apparently, the happiness from the date hadn't worn off. "Remy-" he began, but she cut him off, raising an eyebrow amusedly.

"Remy?" she repeated in a voice that suggested she was trying to hold back laughter. "Ah didn't realize ya spoke in third person." She said before she laughed. He threw her a glare, which only made her laugh harder, and then cleared his throat again. "_I_," he said, just to please her, "Was wonderin' if y' wanted t' see a movie wit' me." She didn't look up from her homework, which she had continued once she had stopped laughing.

"Nothin' Ah want ta see," she commented idly.

"Non, chere," he insisted, "Not in de theaters. Here. Friday night." She looked up curiously, and then sighed.

"Fine, Cajun." She said. He slipped out silently, mentally thanking the powers-that-be for her agreeing.

~~~~~

Bullets.

Blood.

Bodies.

She grinned wickedly as a thought crossed her head. Blood still stained her hands, but it was now on the walls, floor, windows, and even the ceiling.

Bullets.

Blood.

Bodies.

~~~~~~~~~

Days blurred by until Friday. Rogue simply waited until the other X-Men filed out dutifully for dates, the New Recruits for other reasons Rogue really, _really_ didn't want to know. So the house was empty- Logan was off somewhere- once again, Rogue _really_ didn't want to know- Storm was visiting Mr. And Mrs. Daniels in New York, Willow had said something about putting her saved money to good use- Rogue wasn't sure if she was going to use it to bail herself out of jail if she got caught or if she was shopping. With Willow, it was dangerous to ask- and Xavier was out at a conference. 

_Yeah, they don't have to worry about me being home alone with a guy,_ Rogue thought sourly. But, there really wasn't anything she could do about it.

She slipped into the living room, wearing a pair of ripped jeans, a black long-sleeved shirt with sleeves that covered most of her gloved hands, and heeled ankle boots with silver clasps. Remy was already there, waiting.

"What're we watchin', sugah?" she asked as she slid next to him. He grinned at her and pulled out a DVD case, which she recognized immediately.

"Fight Club!" she cried, and then threw her arms around him suddenly. "How did'ya know?" she asked him, and he shrugged.

"A little bird on crack tol' Remy," he said. Rogue snorted.

"Ya mean Willow, right?" she asked him, and he nodded. 

"Wan' me t' put it in?" he asked her. She nodded and settled back against the couch. They both settled back to watch the movie, and before she even realized it, his arm was around her shoulders, fingers toying with the ends of her hair as he pulled her closer.

~~~~~

(I would like to state now that I've never found a list of Rogue's favorite movies. I simply assumed that this would be one she'd like. It IS an AU, you know)

~~~~~

When Kitty Pryde returned from her date- cut short for unexpected reasons- she had expected to find Remy and Rogue still together. She did not, however, expect to find Rogue pulled close to him, her sleeping head resting on his shoulder as his head rested on hers. The flicker DVD menu screen cast an eerie glow on their faces, and Kitty quietly shut it off, letting her friend sleep.

~~~~~~~~~

Remy was snatched rudely out of his slumber by Scott yelling at Kitty, who shrieked back at an unbelievable volume.

"They were SLEEPING on the couch?!?" Scott yelled at her. "And you didn't _ask your teammate if anything had happened?_" he roared, at Kitty rolled her eyes.

"Uh, like, Scott?" she said, and he threw her a very, very annoyed look. "She can't exactly touch, so like, what's the worry? Why can't you let her be happy because someone, like, cares about her even though she can't, like touch?" she snapped. Scott threw up his hands.

"I can't believe you," he hissed quietly. "You're letting him _sleep with her_?" She rolled her eyes again and snorted.

"You make it sound like they, like, you know, had sex. And God knows Rogue can go around sleeping with every guy she knows. Oh yes, Scott. They totally had hot, passionate sex. I like, even watched!" she threw back at them, and Remy couldn't resist. He laughed. Scott turned to him then.

"What were you two doing?" Scott screamed at Remy, who leaned back, causing Rogue to stir.

"Scott!" she screamed at him, and Kitty ran upstairs with a smirk, deciding to watch the fireworks from upstairs. "Ah am happy despite mah curse, and ya can't be happy foh me? Well, then Ah guess that Ah should talk my joy elsewhere!" she 'hmphed', grabbed Remy's arm, and dragged him away. Kitty was laughing so hard that she didn't hear Scott come up. He glared at her.

"What's so funny?" he asked the giggling freshman.

"Rogue just like, totally admitted she liked Remy and you like, didn't even catch on!" she gasped between laughs.

Scott scowled even more fiercely at her before he moved to storm into his room.

~~~~~~

Rogue and Remy were sitting in a tree. Perhaps an odd place for a couple to have a serious talk, but they were comfortable.

"Why me?" Rogue asked suddenly, settled on a branch next to Remy. Before he answered, he pulled a leaf out of her hair.

"Chere," he began. "Why d' y' ask?" 

"Ah don't know, Remy, Ah just think that ya should have someone you can touch an'-" he cut her off by trailing a gloved finger down her cheek.

"Non, p'tite. Remy wants you." His soft words cut her straight to the heart, and she leaned in closer to him.

It was wonderful.

~~~~~~~~~

A/N: This isn't particularly long, but for some weird reason it took me forever. T_T. As for Kitty's response, get rid of the Valley-Girl stuff and that is something I would have said. I hope you like this- I'm not too sure I do, but, hey! I'm finally getting into the Romy-ness. Bow down before me.

Eh, anyways…

I know what the end of the story will be, but I'm kind of afraid to end it like that. It's kind of cool that I have the whole thing planned out. I'm so glad I actually know where this is going. With Deus Ex Machina… eh.

Shout-Outs:

Yumiko: Yes fluff is fluff. Like cotton candy, only better, because I hate cotton candy. Anyways, fear me, for I have updated- finally- and more fluff. Fluff!

Ishandahalf: Apparently, my bunny got your message mixed up- this is quick like a bunny on tranquilizers. Oops. Anyways, here it is, just like you asked, more sweetness.

Seung Lee: Yeah, that's the plan, though it's a long time coming. I just realized how long this story is going to end up being. Anyways, that's the first time I've been told someone dug my story- and I'm not being sarcastic or mean- so yay. *hugs Seung Lee*

Passionate Crow Rat: Yeah, but the fluff is the hardest for me to write. Anyways, here it is, more fluff, due to popular demand. Sorry it took so long… heh.

AnnechanB: I'm so glad you think Kitty and Lance is better, because that pairing comes easier to me and makes a bit more sense. Anyways, yeah, Willow stays concealed for a bit longer, Kitty and Lance is on the way!

Rynn Abhorsen: Yeah, those stories "love makes life perfect" pisses me off. Has anyone else ever noticed that young love in the earlier stages seems to have the REVERSE effect? Well, anyways, it will here. No, the fact that you have a therapist doesn't necessarily freak me out, I've been told I need one. Then again, it was by my school nurse that I hate who told me how bad I looked in the beginning of the year, so… Ahem. Here it is. New chapter. FINALLY.

Storm-Pietro: Wow. Everyone says 'update soon', and I take a lifetime. What's that tell you about me? No, actually, it was due to computer issues. When I have the time, I'll be sure to catch up on your fic, but I've been busy lately. Be shocked at my excuse for a life.

Cloud of Blood: I wasn't sure exactly how Bronwyn fit into this- I was mostly toying with the idea of using her in the sequel, but introducing her here so people who read this right before the sequel would be able to say, oh, yeah, I remember that person. But thanks to you, I have come up with a stroke of pure genius to integrate her more. And I think I'll do what you say with the dreams. It is, after all, the major plot line for most of the story. Or at least the first two-thirds. Which is most. Eh.

Passionate Crow Rat's second review: No… I didn't run out of ideas, I got a new computer- or, rather, my dad did- and I couldn't get at my old files, including this one! It was so bad…. But I got the files back, so all is good in the world, except for the fact that I still have to clean my room. Ahem. Thank you, though, I'm so glad that you enjoy my story that much!!

Gothic Cajun: Yes, Orlando Bloom is hot. So is Alexis Denisof. And J. August Richards. I've been told I have a thing for accents- any accent- and I'm inclined to agree, though some accents annoy me to all seven hells. Anyways, your review is very much appreciated, and I'm glad all your personalities like it. Yeah, Giddy and LomL are pretty much the poster fics for sequels, but I've gotten way behind on LomL; I'll catch up when I have time. I updated, so now you have to love me! HAH!

Enchantedlight: I'm so ecstatic that you love my story, and I'm also…. Um…. Deeply apologetic that unforeseen factors conferred to interfere with my updating. My deepest regrets that you had to wait so long to view the next installment in this work of fiction. Anyways, the dream's meanings will be revealed…eventually.

Psychotic Raven: Ha, ha, I know who you are. Anyways, I updated, see, so take the jacket away! More fluff, though not as well-written. Thanks for actually responding to the survey, since only two people replied, I'm too lazy to post the results...

Lyrics: "Suteki Da Ne" or "Isn't it Wonderful?" by Nobou Uematsu. Final Fantasy X theme song.

Japanese:

Kaze ga Yose ta Kotoba ni 

_Oyoi__ ga kokoro_

_Kume__ ga hakobu ashita ni_

_Hazu__ n da koe_

_Tsuki__ ga yureru kagami ni_

_Furue__ ta kokoro_

_Hoshi ga nagare kobori ta_

_Yawarakai__ namida_

_Suteki__ da ne_

_Futari__ te wo tori aruka ta __nara___

_Iki__ tai yo_

_KIMI no machi le _

_Ude__ no naka_

_Sono__ mune_

_Karada__ azuke_

_Yoi__ ne magire_

_Yumemiru___

_Kaze__ wa tomani kotoba wa_

_Yasashii__ maboroshi_

_Kumo__ wa yabure ashita wa_

_Tooku__ no koe_

_Suteki__ da ne_

_Futari__ te wo tori aruka ta __nara___

_Iki__ tai yo_

_KIMI no machi le _

_Ude__ no naka_

_Sono__ kao_

_Sotto furete_

_Asa__ ni tokeru_

_Yumemiru___

English:

_The wind,_

_Like a heart that swam in accumulated words_

_The clouds,_

_A voice that was shot into the holding future_

_The moon,_

_An unsteady heart shaking in an unsteady mirror_

_The stars,_

_Gentle tears in an overflowing stream_

_Isn't it wonderful?_

_To walk, hand in hand_

_I do so want to go_

_To your city, your home, in your arms_

_That heart,_

_Held within your body_

_In those confusing nights_

_I dream_

_The wind,_

_Its halting words are a gentle illusion_

_The clouds,_

_A broken future like a distant voice_

_The moon,_

_A heart floating in the clouded mirror_

_The stars,_

_Broken and swaying like tears unable to be hidden_

_*Isn't it wonderful?_

_If we could walk hand in hand?_

I'd want to go to 

_Your city, your home, to your arms*_

_That face_

_A soft touch_

_Dissolving into morning,_

_I dream_

Please, please don't insult me for putting the Japanese in. I just thought that it might be interesting. And I kept the chapter Suteki Da Ne because that's the name of the song.

-The Tourniquet


	8. Good Thing

Et Tous le Musique Arretee

Chapter Eight: Good Thing

A/N: And here is chapter eight! Originally, I started writing this on my laptop which, sadly, doesn't have Word installed, so I was working in NOTEPAD and doing all the coding by hand. Then I realized I was screwing up the plot and moving something along far too quickly. If you want to see where I left off, you'll have to wait a couple chapters so I don't spoil anything for you.

I've been tossing around two AU-stories- one with Rogue as a patient at a mental institution, and one where she's in a woman's prison, accused of murder. I don't know where I come up with this. Anyways, I have a few more ideas, but those are the most prominent. The summary for the first one would be something like:

"She was broken. A broken mind, and a broken soul. Can he fix her, or will he only break her more?" Or…something. Gah.

The reviews were nice, but I would appreciate more. Eh, I guess you can't ask for too much. Anyways, please review.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Well, I own Willow, the plot, and Bronwyn. Everything else belongs to its respective owners, I do not claim ownership, no money is being made off of these uses of certain copyrighted things, this is purely for entertainment. That good enough for you?

Dedication: It's dedicated to those kind, kind people who actually take the time to review.

Monday was, of course, the first day of the school week. It was also the day where everyone was running so late that they didn't have time to stop at Starbucks and get their caffeine rush. Rogue was barely awake, blinking constantly and rubbing her eyes. Kitty actually fell asleep on Kurt's shoulder on the way to school. As a matter of fact, only Jean looked to be fully awake.

Rogue tugged the sleeves of her black, pullover, hooded sweatshirt down even further. Her gloves were semi-transparent, showing chipping black nail-polish, and her black jeans were baggy. Kitty, however, wore a tight, pink, tank top and skirt that looked to have come out of Jean's closet. She was shivering even in sleep, and Rogue would have laughed if she wasn't so tired.

With French class also came that test she was dreading. She was sure she knew the answers, but she was almost as sure she'd fail because she was a mutant. Then there was her freaky partner who never did anything and the brunette girl who did about as much. Many people would have told Rogue she, of all people, had no right to call anyone freaky, but the girl scared her. And her hair looked dyed, which was even more disturbing when you thought about it.

Her thoughts finally settled on the matter at hand- reviewing for the test. She flipped through her book, decently sure she didn't need to review. Her partner- what was her name? It was long and weird, that's all Rogue knew- was balancing her pencil on the bridge of her nose, leaned back on two legs of her chair. Some guy walked by- a football player, she could tell because the cheerleaders were looking at him appreciatively- and kicked her chair over, but at that exact moment she jumped to her feet, so he only knocked over her chair. Then the teacher returned and passed back the tests.

Rogue was the first person finished, so she rat back in her chair. The brunette girl was tapping her pen almost as fast as Pietro would have, and it was getting on Rogue's nerves. Suddenly, the girl stopped, tossed her hair, and walked out of the class. The teacher didn't seem to notice. Rogue didn't really care. She would have liked to do the same, but the Professor insisted on them following rules. She yawned and placed her chin in her cupped hands.

"Hey, mutie," some guy whispered at her. "Up late last night with your boyfriend?" Rogue ignored him and toyed with part of one of her white streaks. He seemed a bit put off by her lack of attention, but ignored her as well.

It was cold. Not just the cold that got the popular girls- especially Jean- excited because it meant the Winter Formal was approaching, but the cold that made the popular girls- shockingly, including Jean- put some clothes on that any parent would approve of. It was the kind of cold that frosted over windows. When Rogue looked out the window at the end of the period, she noticed it was snowing lightly, which utterly and completely confused her. Why would Ororo change the weather to be so cold?

Another question popped into her head.

What if it wasn't Ororo?

School was over, but many students were still clustered together in tight groups, hoping to gain some warmth. Jean, oddly, was welcomed back into the popular crowd, but then Rogue realized why. Mid-terms were coming up, and people had figured out that the red-haired mutant would give _anything_ to be accepted again, and they wanted to ace the tests, so, she was popular again.

_People still don't know my mutation,_ Rogue realized as some guy shoved her with his bare hands. _If they did, they wouldn't dare touch me._

"Hey, like, Rogue?" Kitty said, snapping her out of her musings. "I'm like, getting a ride with Jean, ok?" she asked her. Rogue only nodded. "But, like, she has to drive Taryn home, so there's totally no room," she explained hurriedly. Rogue shrugged.

"Ah'll walk," she said flatly, shoving her hands deeper into her pockets and blowing a strand of white hair out of her eyes.

"But it's like, really far!" Kitty exclaimed, and Rogue sighed.

"Ah'll be _fine_," she insisted. "No one will tray to hurt me. Ah'm a mutie, remember?" she said the last part in a voice that was filled with hate. Kitty threw up her hands.

"Whatever," she muttered, and walked off.

Rogue pulled her hands out of her pockets only long enough to pull her hood over her hair, which was already glimmering with tiny bits of ice and snow. She sighed as couples walked home together, pressed close for warmth and because they could. Quite a few threw her disgusted looks for her clothes, then recognized her and glared at her. She didn't mind, though.

People had never really liked her.

She inhaled deeply. It was freezing, but she'd always liked the cold. When it was cold, people never questioned why she wore layers and layers of clothes. They just kind of ignored her, and that was the way she liked it. No uncomfortable questions about pants and long sleeves when it was ninety-some degrees. One guy had asked her if she was Amish once, and she has snapped back that she liked being pale. People stopped asking and started laughing then.

And when it was cold, everyone stayed inside, so finding a private place to think or draw or play her guitar outside wasn't as hard. When it snowed long enough, everyone went outside for snowball fights and the like, but she stayed inside. The new recruits whispered about her. It was amusing that the worst insult they could come up with was 'anti-social' which she readily admitted to being.

The roads were deserted farther along, the couples having stopped their walks in favor of coffee at Starbucks or wherever the hell they liked to go. Rogue slowed down and removed her hood, having become accustomed to the cold by now. The snow was still falling softly, sprinkling white amidst the drabness of Bayville. She enjoyed the stillness, the silence, buy, most of all, she enjoyed the fact that nobody was there to push her or tease or her hit her or-

She stopped that line of thought before she even knew what the last one was going to be. She didn't remember most of her past and she didn't want to. Why worry about the past when you have the present?

She cocked the gun. Again. The body-count had grown, and the police hadn't discovered anything. They didn't even know that those _humans_ were dead.

If they had been mutants, the police wouldn't have cared.

She fired through the wall. Again. It was peppered with bullet-holes and splashed with blood. She giggled hysterically, realizing it looked like some freakish form of abstract art.

"I am an artist," she proclaimed.

Almost an hour later, Rogue burst into the mansion. Snowflakes sparkled in her hair as they rapidly began melting from the heat of the mansion. Kitty looked up from her laptop and frowned.

"Where were you? I know that you can, like, totally walk faster than that?" she demanded. Rogue groaned.

"Ah was thinking," she stated flatly. "Mostly about the sudden change in the weather," she added at Kitty's suspicious look. "Why do ya ask?" Kitty looked down at the ground.

"Scott, like, told me to." She paused as Rogue waited, tapping her foot impatiently. "Gambit's been gone all day and… he thought you two were together," she said in a meek voice. Rogue threw up her hands, anger blazing in her eyes.

"Ah give up…" she muttered, then glared at Kitty pointedly. "Where is he?" she snapped at the frightened girl, who pointed wordlessly towards the living room.

Rogue stormed into the room where Scott was absorbed in his homework. She cleared her throat loudly and he looked up, a pleasant smile on his face.

"Oh, hello, Rogue," he said, then gasped in surprise as she grabbed his collar and hauled him to his feet, her eyes and voice filled with rage.

"Why are you bein' so overprotective?" she hissed at him. "What's it mattah if Ah spend time with mah _boyfriend_? And is it really any of _your_ business?" He hung his head guiltily.

"Rogue, I just don't think we can trust him-" he began, but she cut him off.

"Ya mean you don't want to, so you're bein' an over-protective ass?" she finished in an innocent voice, but it held an undertone of sarcasm.

"Rogue, he's a thief-" he began again, but he was interrupted once again.

"Well, you're not exactly full of morals, stickin' your nose in mah private life. Emphasis on the _private_, Shades."

"Rogue, I'm just trying to help you-"

"By making sure that Ah get no alone time with mah boyfriend?"

"I give up!" he yelled, and she released his shirt, shoving him backwards so he stumbled.

"No, _Ah_ give up!" she yelled back. "You all were always on mah back, tellin' me to be more outgoin' an' make more friends, an' not only do Ah make a new friend, Ah get a boyfriend! But are ya happy that Ah did what you wanted? No, you're mad because Ah didn't let you pick mah boyfriend!" she ranted at him, and he didn't look hurt. He looked guilty.

He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could get a word in, Rogue screamed, "Ah don't want to hear it!" and ran out.

"What's with Rogue these days?" Jean asked her boyfriend, Scott, after he told her about the issue over Remy.

"I don't know," he responded honestly. "Ever since that damned Cajun joined and they started going out, she's been really… easily-angered. Short tempered," he added.

"She was always like that," Jean replied in a disgusted voice. "It's like she thinks she's better than us; I hate people like that!" she exclaimed. Scott mentally frowned at his girlfriend's anger towards the X-Girl, but didn't say anything about it.

"Well, I really don't have any business trying to push them apart. They're a couple, and there's nothing I can do about it. It isn't any of my business whether she spends almost no time or almost all her time with him," he murmured guiltily, and Jean scowled.

"Why do you even care so much?" she asked him, raising an eyebrow suspiciously.

"I don't!" he answered defensively. "I just don't trust him." Jean rubbed his shoulder gently, speaking in a soothing tone that he later realized had telepathic influences planted in it.

"Don't worry about it," she whispered, "Just let them have their fun. He seems like a womanizer. He'll move onto someone else."

Had Scott been a telepath, he would have easily picked up Jean's thought: _Hopefully me._ But he was not, and had no idea about his girlfriend's little infidelities.

Remy, having heard all about Rogue's little outburst, found the girl poking at her dinner- which looked to be untouched- while Logan glared at her from across the table. Kitty stood next to her, wearing an expression that was incredibly similar to Logan's. They obviously hadn't noticed him entering, except maybe Logan, who was probably just ignoring him.

"Ah'm not hungry!" Rogue insisted, and Remy understood why the others were waiting. "Ah had a big lunch!"

"You so did not!" Kitty burst out suddenly, a worried look replacing that of her angry expression. "I saw you! You didn't eat anything! _And_ all you had for breakfast was a roll!" Rogue immediately looked down, not meeting the girl's eyes.

"Ah'm not hungry!" she repeated, after having muttered some obscenity under her breath that Logan raised his eyebrows out. Deciding it wasn't the time to interrupt them, Remy slipped out the door.

"Will, for the last time, _shut up_!" Tabitha called to Willow playfully. The aforementioned immortal girl stopped muttering rapidly in French long enough to stick her tongue out at Tabby and then went back to murmuring.

"Aw, come on!" Bobby called from his position next to Jubilee, who had recently returned to the X-Men. "You're more mature than _that_, right?" Jubille laughed.

"Because God knows Bobby isn't," she added loudly, and Bobby responded with a 'Hey!' Willow only rolled her eyes and back-flipped out of the room, but not before her slim, long middle finger made its appearance.

Rogue finally managed to escape from the kitchen by saying she'd eat a big breakfast. She bumped into Remy as she hurried out, and gasped as worry quickly clouded her eyes.

"How long were you standing there?" she demanded. He shrugged.

"Not long, chere," he replied easily, and couldn't help but notice that she breathed a small sigh of relief. He looped his arm around her shoulders, grinning at the fact that Scott wanted to shoot him at that moment, and they walked away.

"So, I was wonderin'," Remy started lazily as they ambled around the grounds. "Do y' wan' t' go see a movie or somet'in'?" he asked her casually, and she nodded.

Up in her room, Jean watched the couple with envy and rage.

Later in her room, sketching, Rogue realized just how happy she'd been recently. Love, which she had looked upon cynically before, now seemed real. Her angry, ticking-time-bomb personality had all but disappeared.

As this thought crossed her mind, she frowned. Because she knew that she _was_ a ticking-time-bomb, and she knew that she _always_ would be.

When you have a-quite literal- kiss of death, isn't that a fair comparison?

She shook her head to clear her mind of those thoughts. Those were the thoughts that boys like Scott had been repelled by. So what was stopping Remy from finding her dark musings disturbing and freaky?

_But he cares_, she reminded herself, _He cares about me even though I can't touch._

She really, really hoped his feelings weren't a lie.

She hoped even more that he would stay with her.

A/N: Gah. I don't really like this chapter. It's just really supposed to be filler. And don't comment on the weird weather. All will be explained if you are good little readers and REVIEW, DAMNIT.

As for the Rogue-no-eaty- thing, I'll explain that later. I actually have a decently solid evidence to base this theory on, so XPXP.

I'm working on a theory for Rogue touching. I had one, but it turned out to be tragically like D-Ark of Spirits' in River of Dreams. Grr. But I'm working on another one, so yay for me. I know I'm evil for getting through the eighth chapter without even presenting a theory on her touching.

Please don't hate me. xx

Shout-outs:

Star-of-Chaos: Holy crap, I completely forgot about that! Um, AU! Artistic license! And stuff. But anyways, I'll have to brainstorm that… thanks for pointing that out, I'll have to think of something. Anyways, I muchly appreciate the review, and it's nice to know you consider my story kickin' awesome, yo.

Lonewolf: Hah! I love being bowed to! Ask my sister, heh. Anyways, yeah, I thought that Remy being an asshole over her particular choices in fashion would just be grr, hence the non-grr-ness. Moving right along, I'm ecstatic you enjoy my excuse for a piece of literature, and I'm sorry about the long wait…

Enchantedlight: Eh, sorry it took so long. However, I'm so indescribably happy that you love this story! I worship you for worshipping me! ("And they love me, and I love them for lovin' me, and they love me for lovin' them. And that's because none of us got enough love in our childhoods.")

Yumiko: Haha, 5P34K L337? I L0/3 L337-5P34K3R5, j0!! Ahem. Sorry it took so long, the update-y-ness, I mean, but it's here. I live on! Somewhat. Eh, blame the Angels. On second thought, don't, because Angels rock! Ahem, anyways, I'm bewaring the l337, I suppose…?

SickmindedSucker: Yeah, ass-kickage is needed. rubs hands together and cackles evilly Ahem, anyways, glad you thought it was cute. I've been told I'm too sarcastic and have too bleak of an outlook on life and too dry of a sense of humor and too sharp a tongue, so congrats on my effort to be fluff-ish and file away my pokey, boney edges are appreciated mucho-mucho. Schpanks!

Ishandahalf: Bunnycrack acknowledged but, apparently, not engaged. Damn. I'm trying, really, but apparently my metaphorical bunny has an immunity to crack. Ahem. Anyways, update is here, and the metaphorical-bunny sends his love, not rabies. Hope you liked this chapter, too, the FFX-2 music is giving me a headache in the background.

Psychotic Raven: Yeah…. It'll be explained. Eventually XPXP. It is trippin' awesome, right? Eh? Anyways, how was Japan-land? Did you have fun? Anyways, slap that review button and type-type-type!! Glad you liked chapter seven, hope you think chapter eight is as good!

Rogues Heart: Not the monkeys!!! Noooo! If you really must know, they're already after me, so HAH, but no, really, I tried, but my sister kept bitching about the crappy shape of our FFX-2 guide, so I couldn't get a type fest in edgewise. It's the first time my story has been called Fantasmic, so, yay!! Review again, pretty please?

Evosmylife: Eh, I tried to update soon, I just didn't succeed. I'm glad you like this story, and I'm especially glad you reviewed, because reviewing makes me worship you for life. Anyways, hope you liked this chapter too.

Lyrics: "Good Thing" by Reel Big Fish, "Cheer Up!":

_(metallic voice)You and I are mortal, but rock and roll will never die!_

_I never felt too good, _

_But in this world who would?_

_I was always thinkin' somethin' wasn't right_

_But then you came along_

_And helped me sing a song_

_And now I feel OK_

_I hope it can stay_

_This way_

_You know we got a good thing goin' _

_And I don't wanna see it end_

_You know we got a good thing goin'_

_And I don't wanna see it end_

_Are these the goody days that I've_

_Heard so much about?_

_There goes the heartbreak that I can live without_

I've been so frustrated 

_Bitter, mean, and jaded_

_I've taken for granted all the things I've got_

_But now that you are here this_

_Anger disappears_

_And I feel happy too_

_This is sappy but it's true_

_You know we got a good thing goin'_

_And I don't wanna see it end_

_You know we got a good thing goin'_

_And I don't wanna see it end_

_Are these the good days that I've_

_Heard so much about?_

_There goes the heartbreak that I can _

_Live without_

I adore this song. It's really good. TGFS: Thank God For Ska.

Please review?

-The Tourniquet


	9. Morningstar

Et Tous le Musique Arretee

Chapter Nine: Morningstar

A/N: Wow... I have nothing to say... Um Billie Joe is sexy! I worship at the altar of Mike! Ok. Go watch Phantom of the Opera, kiddies.

Please review.

Disclaimer: You know where I'm going with this.

Jean was _really_ starting to get annoyed with Remy and Rogue.

The former now took the latter to and from school almost every day, made sure she never had to wear gloves around him, and was constantly touching her in little ways; kissing her gloved hand, holding her hand, wrapping an arm around her, or playing with her hair.

It was enough to make the telepath want to hurl.

Honestly, what did he even _see _in her? Her excessive use of make-up ruined any good looks she might have had, and she was so _pale_. Jean's mother was from California, so she was more fond of tanned skin than her Southern teammate. Also, she was so _thin_. She wasn't freakishly curvy to begin with, but she'd been slender. And then she just started getting thinner and thinner.

And that stupid bitch always wore black. _Black._ Yeah, it was slimming, but she was already pale. _Oh, yeah, way to make yourself look like your friend- I mean, a vampire. _Jean mentally projected thoughts like these at school, fully aware that Rouge couldn't hear her.

She was unaware that someone _could_, however.

"It is all going according to plan," she whispered, toying with her gun. She tossed it idly, waiting for the response.

"Does she remember?" a raspy voice inquired. The gun-wielder shook her head and shoved the gun into the back of her pants.

"Leave," the voice commanded, and she nodded and left.

The X-Men were assembled in the living room. Rogue was seated on the floor, lotus-style, wearing black pants and a blood-red peasant blouse with bell sleeves. Jean glared down at her, wearing a tight, denim mini skirt and a pink halter with a white sweater that said "ROXY" across the top in pink letters folded in her lap. (AN: One of the boys in my class wore one like that. It was some girl's, but he was cold and found it in the back of the class.) Remy was trying to hold in his laughter, as Rogue was either oblivious to the older girl's jealousy or simply ignored it.

"Students, I have picked up the signal of a new mutant," Professor X stated as he wheeled himself in. Rogue yawned loudly and obnoxiously, and Willow giggled.

"So we go retreat the suckers an' tell 'em the drill?" Rogue drawled, beginning to get up. However, the Professor held up his hand, signaling for her to sit back down.

"Cerebro could not pick up who this mutant was, how old they are, or even their powers. They seemed to be shielded by a telepath stronger than me. It's almost as if they-"

"Wanted it to be known that there was a new mutant around but didn't want us to know who they were," Willow cut in, finishing for him.

"So, like, what do we do?" Kitty asked, and the Professor sighed and folded his hands.

"We wait, Kitty," he said softly. "We wait."

"Boss-lady said she heard of some more mutants, yo," Todd said to the other members of the Brotherhood. Lance snorted.

"You mean freaks that had the sense to hide their mutations, _Toad_," he corrected. Todd shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know, yo. I think the boss-lady knows more than she's willin' to tell us, yo."

Willow yawned and stretched. She and Rogue sat facing each other, both wearing all black. She folded her legs beneath her, and slapped one of her feet.

"Why is he takin' so long?" she complained, arching her back and enjoying the popping sensation. "I swear, if he doesn't hurry up, then I'm gonna wait till he comes, shove you out of the way and scream 'RAPE' at the top of my lungs." She proclaimed soundly. Rogue snapped her head up.

"That's not funny!" she snapped at the black-haired girl, who held her hands up as a sign of surrender.

"Whoa, sorry. What's the big deal, anyways?" she asked her, curious. Rogue shrugged.

"Ah… Ah don't know…" she said slowly.

"I'm here," a voice called from the shadows, and both girls leapt to their feet.

"Finally!" Willow exclaimed. And with that, the two disappeared into the shadows.

"I don't get this," Jean said as she, Remy, and Kitty waited up for Willow, Rogue, and Evan. "They've never stayed out this late. Or, at least, not without calling." Kitty was tapping her foot on the floor and her fingers on her knee alternatively.

"Did she say that she was like, spending the night with anyone?" Kitty asked, and Jean's telepathy could not hide the scornful look that crossed her face.

"Yeah, and who would invite _her_ to spend the night?" she asked, and Remy didn't answer, just kept sliding the card between his fingers quickly.

After more minutes of silence, Kitty sighed again.

"I'm like, starting to get worried…" she said trailing off. "I mean, she might do something totally crazy!" Jean rolled her eyes and twisted a strand of red hair.

"She'd never rob a bank or anything," Jean said dismissively. Kitty threw a glare at her.

"I _meant_ something like running away, but if you _want_ to place her as a juvenile delinquent just because her _boyfriend_ is, go right ahead!" and with that parting phrase, the valley girl stormed up the stairs.

However, once in her room, she opened the window quietly and crawled out onto the sill. She easily climbed down the wall, and inwardly smirked, being careful to not project her thoughts.

_And Jean said I'd never learn anything from Willow._

She hit the ground quietly, and let herself fall into the ground. Ever once in a while, her head would pop up when she needed air. Finally she reached the gate.

"Shadowcat," she whispered to the security system, and the gate opened. She settled for a long wait outside in a tree, hoping no one noticed the absence of another student at the Institute.

Hours later, after she had slipped into slumber and the sun was beginning to rise, the three missing students in question slipped back into the mansion.

Rogue tossed and turned as another dream plagued her.

"They tried to keep me away from you," he whispers in her ear. He is still cold and she is wondering if he's even alive, but all thoughts cease as he fiddles with the zipper on her sweatshirt, pulling it down desperately. They aren't in the same closet, and she's wearing a different outfit, so it must be a new day.

**_Different day. Different place. Same tragic story._**

**_He rips it off of her, and she realizes they are in a bedroom. The word echoes in her mind, and she is terrified. Terrified by where they are, how forceful he is, that maniacal gleam in his eyes. She realizes that if he has been told to stay away from her, she probably should scream, but she can't find her voice._**

**_He looks her over, and she can't help but notice the lust in his eyes. She wants to hurt him, beat him, hit him, anything, but she is so consumed with fear that she can't move._**

**_"I'll make you mine tonight," his hoarse voice whispers as he reaches for the buttons on her blouse. She slaps his hand away, and he backhands her across the face as punishment. She cries out, but it is a quiet, defeated cry. He grabs her wrist and throws her away from him. She flies across the room, her shoulder slamming into the wall. It hurts, and she sobs in a combination of fear, pain, contempt at her fear, and disgust at whoever he is._**

**_She falls onto the bed. Or maybe she is pushed. It doesn't really matter, because now he is on top of her. _**

Rogue screamed as she sat up straight in bed. Kitty was in her bed, which was surprising because she had been gone when Rogue had come back. The aforementioned valley girl fell out of her bed with a yelp, sheets tangled around her legs. Remy, unsurprisingly, was the first person in. He held three cards, ready to charge and throw them, when he saw the disgruntled girl on the floor and they panting girl in bed, he relaxed a little.

"What's wrong, p'tite?" he asked his girlfriend as he sat next to her. She tried to pull away- she wore a black short-sleeve shirt instead of long sleeves, but he was wearing long sleeves so he didn't let her. She massaged her temples and shook her head.

"Ah can't remember," she said, worry tingeing her voice.

Had he been a telepath, he would have known that she was actually worried about him discovering her blatant lie.

"She's lying," Jean immediately told him as he exited the girls' room. "I don't know what the truth is, but something scared her and she knows what it is." Normally Remy would have assumed she just wanted to get Rogue in trouble, but the conviction with which she spoke convinced him otherwise.

"Are y' sure?" he asked the telepath, and she shook her head.

"She could just be trying to trick me, and the Professor would be furious if I probed. But, I wouldn't want to…" at his puzzled look, she explained: "If something scared her that much, I'm almost positive that it would terrify me."

Remy was inclined to agree. Rogue didn't scare easily, and anything that had her too scared to talk about it would be terrifying for anyone else.

The hot water cascaded down around her, scalding her skin and slowly turning it from pale white to pink. There was really no reason for her to need such a hot, cleansing shower. It wasn't like she had done anything wrong. _It was just a dream,_ she told herself as she turned the cold water completely off. The bathroom was completely steamed up and Kitty would throw a fit because Rogue had used up all the hot water, but she didn't care. Finally, she turned the water off.

"Like, finally!" she heard Kitty say from outside. "Use up all the hot water why don't you? I can practically feel the, like, steam out _here_!" she complained.

"Shut up!" she snapped as she threw on a pair of jeans and a baggy black shirt that said 'The Movielife' and had two dice on it. "Ah'm coming!" she yelled through the door, and after toweling her hair, opened the door and attempted to walk by. Kitty however, grabbed her arm and pointed at the redness.

"I knew you were taking a totally hot shower!" she proclaimed, and Rogue decided not to comment. "Did you, like, even keep the cold water a little bit on?" she asked, and Rogue shook her head. Kitty rolled her eyes and let go, walking into the bathroom.

Fifteen minutes later, as Rogue was applying black lipstick, she heard Kitty scream,

"Rogue! I'm like, totally gonna kill you!"

She snickered as she placed the newly bought tube back on her dresser.

Suddenly, a thought echoed in her head. _Black, isn't that familiar? But… He was wearing black? Remember him? He wore black lipstick?_ She clutched her head as the thoughts echoed in her head. Then the moment passed.

Maybe… Maybe I'm starting to remember more… 

Remy heard laughter echoing from the living room. He peeked in and saw Willow and Kitty giggling with some bleach-blond guy up on the screen.

"Where's Roguey?" he asked. They both leapt to their feet and turned the TV off.

"Remy!" Kitty all but yelled. "I, like, totally didn't see you there…"

"Obviously," Willow said as she trailed off. Kitty reached over as if to smack her, but Willow dodged it.

"Leave us alone," Kitty snapped at Remy suddenly.

"Don't mind her," she said, "She's never liked you. And she probably never will." He shrugged.

"Where's Roguey?" he repeated, and Kitty rolled her eyes.

"Can we say, like, one-track mind?" she said sarcastically.

"She's out," Willow said, "I _think_ she's in the park," she added at his disappointed look, "But you're going to have to look for her."

Remy nodded and slipped out the door. When he was gone, Kitty hit Willow on the arm.

"What did you do _that_ for?" she asked the older, paler mutant.

(Ok, this part is Rogue's thoughts. Trust me. If it isn't italicized, not my problem. Blame my 'puter)

Do I even exist? Am I a real human, tangible? Well, not touchable, really, but solid? Or am I just a shadow of a person, gliding meaninglessly from place to place. People notice me, but I am transparent, a ghost. I am seen but never heard. People know I am there but they don't like it.

_So am I real? If I am, then why do I feel so…separate from everyone else? They are happy, and I am lonely. They try to befriend me, but they will never understand the agony of never being able to touch. I want them to believe that I am a real human being, but I don't know if I believe that._

_And if I'm real, am I anything to Remy? Remy LeBeau; Remy the beautiful. Before I hated him; but now? I care more than I ever knew I could. And it hurts, because I don't know if he does. I know he tells me he does, but he can't touch me! What guy would ever want that?_

_Am I his anything, his everything? Am I anything to him like he is everything to me? Or am I nothing, a ghost that disappears as daylight comes?_

_I don't know, but I do know one thing: I wish I were real._

A/N: And, it is finished, with stories of male classmates in pink Roxy jackets!

OK, too much sugar for me. Originally this story was "You're Not Alone" but then it took a different path then I thought it would. I was, ironically enough, listening to "Goodbye To You" when I wrote this. I love that song, especially the live version. Anyways, review and I will love you forever.

It's James Marsters! Spikeykins! Or, at least, that's what we call him… Mmm…sexay.

Shout-Outs:

Gothic Cajun: Yeah, I wish I had pale skin. Unfortunately, I am condemned to having a yellow-inted pigment, making me look like I barely survived a recent bout of cholera. Or possibly anorexia. Anyways. Update: para j00!

Hell Devil: feels special

ishandahalf: well at least I kept it coming.

Shanaiza: In due time.

enchandedlight: glad you liked it. sorry for being lazy in everything except school.

Roguesheart: Well, you suffered, but was it worth it?

Star-of-Chaos: All shall be explained when I feel like it.

Lyrics- "Morningstar" by AFI; "The Art of Drowning":

I saw a star beneath the stairs 

_Glowing through a melted wall_

_Who will be the first to fall?_

_Or will we become one?_

_Am I the star beneath the stars?_

_Am I a ghost upon the stage?_

_Am I your anything?_

_I saw a star beneath the stairs,_

_Glowing bright before descent_

_And in the morning there is nothing left_

_But what's inside of me_

_And I don't want to die tonight,_

_Will you believe in me?_

_And I don't want to fall into the light_

_Will you wish upon?_

_Will you walk upon me?_

_I don't want to die tonight_

_Will you…_

-The Tourniquet


	10. Panic Song

Et Tous le Musique Arretee

Chapter Ten: Panic Song

A/N: Chapter ten… oh my God, I didn't think I'd get this far without a flame. Wow. Keep those reviews comin', ok?

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except Bronwyn, Esme, and the plot. Ha.

Dedication: A friend of mine whose life I want desperately; my gorgeous-model, talented, and sweet friend.

"Rogue, you've been staying out too late," Professor Xavier told the girl in fromt of him, who merely looked bored. She turned so her legs were draped over the left arm of the chair and her back was pressed against the right.

"OK," she said unenthusiastically. He sighed.

"Rogue, if you don't start coming in earlier, I may have to forbid you to see Remy," he told her, hoping it would hit a nerve. She sat straight up suddenly.

"You can't do that!" she hissed at him. "For one, it's not like ya have to worry 'bout anything happenin'. And Ah have proof he wasn' with me!" Xavier sighed again, and folded his hands. Rogue noticed he had really girly hands, but tried not to project that thought. He didn't seem to pick up on it.

"Ever since Mr. LeBeau has arrived here, you seem to have attained disregard for the rules," The Professor pointed out. "You have become more secretive, especially about what's been terrifying you at night-" she cut him off there.

"For your information, Professor," she snapped at him, "Ah haven't told Remy 'bout that. No one knows, unless Jean's done some probin' Ah should know about."

She waited for him to say something else, carefully keeping her mind blank, then turned. At the doorway, she looked over her shoulder.

"If you'll excuse me, Ah have somethin' Ah have to do."

"You talk too much." Roberto told Willow this without hesitation, and she stopped speaking rapidly to Kitty about a dream with some guy named Tidus long enough to throw him a glare.

"If you're implying that you would rather put my mouth to different uses, I suggest you save it." Then she turned back to Kitty and started talking about a Danger Room session. Rogue walked slowly into the kitchen, and the New Recruits scrambled out hurriedly, terrified of the Goth girl. She rolled her eyes before turning to the insanity that was breakfast. Willow was teaching Jamie to swear like a sailor, with a very serious look on her face. Apparently she knew how to swear like that at his age, and felt it was her responsibility to pass on the knowledge.

Kitty, apparently, has ceased her conversation with the girl, getting an extra plate of food that Rogue assumed was for her. She wasn't hungry, but she knew Kitty wouldn't buy that. Kurt was 'porting in and out of the madness, and Evan was spiking sausages. She tried to slip out the door unnoticed by Kitty, but apparently several young teenagers running away from the room with food like a bat out of hell alerted her to Rogue's appearance.

"Rogue!" she exclaimed, and Rogue mentally slapped herself for letting the New Recruits see her. Damn, damn, damn. As Kitty headed over, she tried to think of something to say. "Aren't you going to eat?" the Valley girl breathlessly asked her Gothic room-mate. Rogue searched her mind, and came up with an excuse relatively quickly.

"Ah was goin' to wait 'til it wasn' as crowded," she said instantly, then, remembering Kitty's extra plate, looked down at it and said, "Oh, Ah didn't know that ya were getting' me food." Kitty nodded and eagerly smiled at her. Rogue mentally slapped herself again for not saying she'd already eaten. Oh, well. She smiled weakly at Kitty, who probably knew she wasn't going to eat, but then Remy came up behind her before Kitty could hand her the plate.

"Let's go, Remy," she said instantly, and dragged him out the door before he could say anything.

Kitty shook her head and sighed. She just didn't know what to do.

"What was _dat_ all 'bout?" Remy amusedly asked Rogue as she dragged him away from the mansion.

"Ah don't want ta talk about it," she snapped. "Now let's go somewhere before the Professor decides to forbid _that_, too," she stated sarcastically, looking for all the world like she wanted to kill someone. Or several someones. Remy wasn't quite sure he wanted to know which was correct.

"Y'r real cute when y'r homicidal, p'tite," he told her casually, leaning on the gate and watching her sulk. Sulk? He never thought he'd see that. Or was she contemplating the best way to kill the bald man? Once again, he didn't want to know, and he thanked God for not giving him telepathy.

"Flattery is not goin' to make meh any les homicidal," she told him. He blinked at her, and she looked right at his brown eyes and sighed. "Damn it," she muttered, and stepped next to him. "There. Ah won't kill anyone. Happy?" she asked him, and he slipped his arm comfortingly around her waist. She tensed and flinched slightly, which confused him. When had he ever hurt her? Well, aside from almost blowing her hand off, but… She smiled softly, though, and he didn't mention it. He knew her well enough to know that if she wanted to tell him, she would.

She shivered suddenly. The whacked-out weather was really getting to her, and she'd forgotten because the mansion was always so hot. She blamed Amara and the heaters. Remy tightened his hold on her, pulling her closer. She normally would have pulled away, but it just felt so _right_. She'd momentarily freaked because of those dreams, but pushed those thoughts out of her head. This was _Remy_. He'd never hurt her. She hadn't known him for that long, but she _trusted _him. His constant shows of affection made her feel special, somehow.

So she let him pull her closer. She let him keep her there as they began their walk, neither speaking. He broke the comfortable silence.

"Why do y' go t' school, p'tite?" he asked her suddenly, and she looked at him like he was crazy.

"Ah guess graduating from high school is… important to everyone else. Honestly, Ah could care less. The world sucks, an' a high school degree ain't gonna change that," she anwered after little thought. He laughed slightly, drawing her even closer. She might have tensed a little, because he didn't keep pulling her in, but she idn't flinch away.

_Good,_ she told herself, _don't think about those stupid dreams._

"Where'd y' come up wit' dat?" he asked her, "The way Remy see it, y've 'ad a pretty good life, chere," She frowned suddenly, as if thinking hard, She looked extremely upset, and brought a hand up to rub her temples.

"Ah…Ah don' know," she said slowly. He turned her gently so she was facing him, and they were so close. He drew her into his arms gently, but holding her tightly as well. She let him hug her, even though she had hated hugs before he came, and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Why not?" he whispered into her ear. People walked by and stared, and he felt Rogue flip some guy off behind his back. "Why can't y' remember, p'tite?" His voice was hoarse and his breath warm on her ear. She shook her head, but he felt rather than saw it.

"Ah don't know, Remy. Ah just… don't remember." He knew how horrible it must be. She couldn't seem to remember much of anything that hadn't happened since she joined the X-Men, really.

"Remy'll help y' find out, belle femme," he promised.

They continued their walk, his arm holding her tightly against him, as if to protect her. Rogue realized this and pressed herself against him, enjoying how he treated her like anyone else would look twice at her. He would protect her; he _wanted_ to.

But could he protect her from the horrors of her own mind?

I watched them. They spoke briefly. Then he pulled her into a hug. Didn't he know that you don't do anything to a girl without asking first? But, to my surprise she didn't slap him like I'd hoped she would when he put an arm around her waist.

The bitch hugged him back!

She was supposed to be mine! Mine! Didn't she remember?

Apparently not.

This could get interesting.

"This is not good."

"Like, DUH," Kitty snapped at Scott after he made that wonderfully observant statement. "They probably think we like, kidnapped Gambit or something. Wait. Like, can we, Scott? Kidnap him and then, like, dump him in the woods?" she said the last part hopefully.

"Uh, guys?" Willow said tentatively, "Why don't we just, um, talk to them?" They looked at her like she was crazy, but realized that with the Professor off in England for some conference, they really had to. Especially because Ororo had left with him, Logan was off God-knows-where, and Mr. McCoy had his own series of conferences to attend. The oldest person there, then, was either Remy- whose real age no one knew- and Willow- and, again, no one knew her age.

"Like, whatever," Kitty said, and Jean looked around.

"Where's Remy?" she asked, pouting.

"He, like, went out with Rogue," Kitty answered helpfully, and the telepath scowled.

"Why didn't he ask us?" she snapped. Willow decided it was time to step in.

"Jean, when was the last time _you_ asked permission to go on a date?" she asked her, and at her guilty look, glanced around the room. "OK, I figure, what wth strength in numbers, we can take them if they start something. They just can't get inside the mansion. So, let's suit up and meet them out front in five." All of the X-Men nodded and ran off to follow her orders.

"This is pointless," Piotr told his insane Australian partner, St.John, who wasn't paying attention anyways.

"Whee… pretty fire, ain't it, mate?" Piotr shook his head and watched them approach. They were lead by someone he had never seen before.

"What do you want?" she asked Piotr curtly. "Wait. Let me guess. You are to deliver a message?" He looked at her suspiciously, but shook his head.

"We wish to join you."

"Um, like, hello?" Kitty said from the back. Willow took another deep breath and closed her eyes.

"Right. If you're looking for mister sticky-fingers, he's out with his girlfriend. If you want to join us, all the official, non psycho-bitch losers in charge are off elsewhere. So you stay here and wait and don't let anyone or anything on fire, or you come back at a later date. Let's say, twenty years from now." Kitty elbowed her, but Piotr only nodded.

"We will stay," he said simply, and Willow responded with an unenthusiastic

"Great."

Rogue and Remy walked back towards the Institute, his arm still wrapped around her tightly. She saw Willow sitting atop the gate and humming. She pulled a face at them.

"You. Suck." She said, pointing at them. "While you were off doing whatever it was you were doing- and, please, never tell me –we were visited by your boytoy's ex-teammates, who, apparently, miss him so much they wanna join the X-Geeks. Gawd, I wonder why..." Rogue ignored the last statement and dug her nails almost painfully into Remy's arm.

"Wait. Are you tellin' meh that Pyro's here?" she asked. Willow sneered.

"'My name's St. John'," she snaps, doing a good imitation of his accent. She then jumps down. "I was waiting for you. Now I can leave. If he sets the house on fire, not my fault. If he sets my stuff on fire and has an 'accident' a dew days later, well, it wasn't me." She looked at them, probably the first time she really _looked_, and noticed how close they were. Rogue shifted uncomfortably, but Remy just smirked at her.

"Oh, Rogue," she said as she paused on her descent. "Someone sent you a letter." Rogue slipped it into her pocket, and decided to open it later.

Gun. She cackled. Again. It was all ready to be set in motion.

Only a few months left.

Do you remember me? Well, I know you don't. But you will. Yes, you will… Stay away from that other guy. If you don't, I'll have him killed.

_You are mine. Remember?_

Rogue tore the letter in half with trembling fingers, then shoved it under her mattress. She sat on her bed and buried her head in her hands. She didn't know what to do. She normally would ask Remy, but then he would think she had a psycho ex-boyfriend.

Maybe she did.

Did it matter? She gets a letter from someone who seems to know about her memory issues just days after she has dreams of being…attacked. Did he think she was someone she wasn't? Maybe someone she absorbed?

She hoped so. If that was her past, she was glad she couldn't remember.

It almost made her…hate herself. She felt like something that had no right to live.

And who said she did?

A/N: And a chapter I hate! Whee! Isn't life grand?

I've been insanely distracted lately, and I haven't been able to work on anything…

_And, please, I need romantic songs!_

The Tourniquet

Lyrics: "Panic Song" by Green Day, on Insomniac:

Ready for a cheap escape 

_On the brink of self destruction_

_Wide-spread panic_

_Broken glass inside my head_

_Bleeding down these thoughts of_

_Anguish…mass confusion_

_The world is a sick machine_

_Breeding a mass of shit_

_With such desolate conclusion_

_Fill the void with… I don't care_

_There's a plague inside me_

_Eating at my disposition_

_Nothing's left_

_Torn out of reality_

_Into a state of no opinion_

_Limp with hate_

Shout-Outs:

Silver Tiger: Why, yes I do watch Buffy, and yes I do love Spike. Thanks for the review.

Chica de los Ojos Café: Thank you very much for your review- I've never gotten 'interesting' before, and I appreciate it.

Enchandedlight: Sorry it took so long, I've been having computer problems.


	11. Author's Note

Dear readers,

I am well aware that it's been over a year since I've updated. I am merely checking to see if there is any interest in this story. I had some personal issues, but they're all sorted out now, so I am now able to finish this story. That is, if anyone still wants to know.

I hope somebody reads this.

-Gloryscream


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